This Kitten
by Maru Taiyro
Summary: The Chronos cats are captured by military officials- the alchemists- of Amestris. A bunch of other animes introduced throughout.
1. Explanation Part One

This is a brief explanation of points of this story that may confuse you:

1: Raenef, from Demon Diary, will also be in this story. Because there is no "multi-crossover" button, I guess I'm just gonna warn you here.

2: Raenef ish gonna be an assassin. He joined with Train and Creed after meeting them in a market.

3: This story will take place before Creed went loony. Saya never came up, and Train and Creed are partners.

4: Raenef is their partner, also. Train is the black cat, Creed is the gray cat, and Raenef is the white cat. They are an assassin group known as the Chronos cats.

5: The homunculi Ling!Greed, Envy, Wrath, and Pride have agreed to work with the military peoples because they're my favorite homunculi dammit stop questioning.

6: For whatever reason, Edward, Alphonse, Winry, Mustang, Riza, and May have all taken up residence in the Armstrongs' estate. The homunculi came with them. Don't question it. It's necessary for the storyline.

If I think of anything else you'll need to know, I'll let you know later.


	2. Shot to the Sky

_Hi, I'm Maru. Let's just see how this goes over. _

_MT_

* * *

><p>He sprinted over the rooftops of a quiet city, footsteps careful and calculated. It was quiet. His thoughts, consistent and hot in his focus, were among the only sounds audible to him. That, and the light footfall of two others behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder every now and then to assure himself they were keeping up well, and though it made him feel a little better each time he saw the two on his heels, keeping up a perfectly matched pace with each other, footing expertly placed, it didn't surprise him in the least when he heard the gasp, followed by a thud and the sound of weight shifting over a rough surface.<p>

"Dammit.." a low voice muttered behind him while another went straight into hyperventilating and stammering out pleas for assistance.

He slowed down and stopped, sighing as he turned slowly to face his partners.

"Train, give me a hand." one of his partners beckoned him over to the point where the other had fallen off, and now clung haphazardly to the shingles on the edge of the roof, kicking out at empty air as he dangled over the three-story drop.

Train let his eyes wander to the ground below. Maybe if they let him fall just this once, he wouldn't do it anymore. The partner that was still on his feet had crept to the edge of the roof, working hard to maintain his balance, but he turned his attention back to him for a moment.

"Train. Don't be cruel." he said in a sing-song voice, looking almost amused by the hesitation.

Their partner whimpered from where he hung, scrabbling at the edge. Evidently, his claws weren't doing the trick.

"Creed, pull me up. Please?" he mumbled frantically. Creed looked up at Train again, shrugging. Train shrugged back, getting over his moment of irritability and sliding carefully down to the edge where the two waited. From there, he and Creed took either of their partner's hands and hoisted him up. Once he was safely up, he immediately hit the ground and covered the upward distance from there to the top of the roof on his hands and knees. From there, he turned and looked back at his partners, who stared back nonchalantly.

"Train, you weren't really gonna let me fall...?" his wide eyes took on the reflective quality that the beginnings of tears always produced, and once again, Train was defenseless. He sighed again.

"No, Rae. I was kidding." The dewy eyes went away in the blink of an eye, and despite all the times that had happened, Train could still never be convinced he was faking it. He blinked at the boy as he carefully rose to his feet, sticking his arms out in either direction to balance himself.

"Oh." he responded with a cheerful smile. "Well, we should keep going, then."

"Holy shit."

Train scanned the property, ignoring Creed's awestruck remark. He could definitely understand where it came from. Most of their targets were aristocrats of some kind, so it was nothing new for each to have a large estate with a lot of unnecessary adornments to add to the grandeur of it. This one, though. It took the prize. The manor itself was a sight that could be compared to renaissance chapels. It was huge, definitely, and with every kind of decoration imaginable for a house. There were at least three floors, and the house itself exceeded the size of the middle school Train had attended for a short period in a phase where he'd tried to pretend he could have a life outside Chronos.

The lawn was an entirely different matter. Flowers that would almost have to be of some kind of foreign origin painted the scene with shades of reds and blues and yellows that were stunningly clear, even in the base light of the moon. The grass was trimmed down to a uniform height, the shrubs trimmed into intricate shapes. There was a large fountain with stone angels rising from its depths, and a well-kept driveway splitting in half to circle around it before reconnecting and continuing on the other side. There was no telling how old this place was, but it was beautiful, to say the least. It was a shame it belonged to such an arrogant asshole.

"Train?"

His thoughts were interrupted by Raenef, who apparently had been trying to get his attention for a while, and had resorted to poking him repeatedly in the side. He turned to meet his wide eyes.

"What is it?"

"Are we gonna go?"

"Have you found a way in?"

Raenef looked pleased with himself.

"Uh huh." he answered with a smile, spinning on his toes and taking a step in the general direction of his suggested entrance. "There's a good window right there. See it?" he pointed to a window, but if Train was expected to be able to tell which one he meant of the myriad of them that littered that particular side of the house, he'd failed miserably.

"No." he frowned. "Just show us."

Raenef blinked before turning on his heel and starting off at a brisk pace, tracing along the gentler curve of this rooftop before finding a good jumping-off point to reach the house. From there, there was a lot of navigating that seemed like it would send them falling to their deaths at any time, but Raenef appeared to know what he was doing, leading them confidently along the sills of windows, loose holds in the bricks, the edges of the roof. He didn't pause or hesitate, and that gave Train a good amount of confidence. When at last they stopped- clinging heavily to the side of the building and with the whole of their weights inclined to fall backward and downwards- he motioned to the window next to him.

"This one."

Train looked over the window, blinked, and looked back at Raenef.

"What are we supposed to do? Won't it be locked?"

"Just break it."

"What?"

"Trust me, Train!" the boy smiled persuasively at him, and Train rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." he breathed. He braced himself, let go with one hand, swung out, and met the window heavily with the entire left half of his body. The sill trembled a bit, which was unnerving, but the glass broke easy, and he scrambled in, cutting up his palms and knees but landing safely on the inside. His partners were at his side by the time he'd gotten to his feet, and he drew his gun immediately. Glancing around the room, it was easy to see that it was empty. Not just devoid of life, but of any kind of adornment. He let out a shaky breath, slowly, deeply. Raenef had been right again. Train really needed to have more faith in him.

He lowered his gun but kept it in hand, at the ready as he raised his other hand, holding up two fingers and using them to motion toward the door. Creed started forward immediately, footsteps fast-paced but cautious, and Train fell in behind him. Raenef was on his heels, light footfall not making a sound, unarmed. Train felt a bit of irritation as he glanced back at his youngest partner, eyes wide and determined, hands empty. The boy wasn't defenseless- Train had seen him use some weird-ass magic before in a fit of panic- but still his utter helplessness in most combat was a consistent cause for concern. Creed paused in front of the door, hand resting on the door knob.

"Okay?" he mouthed back at Train, who nodded solemnly in reply. Though it probably wasn't nearly as dramatic as it seemed, the door seemed to creep open centimeters at a time, and it had the exact affect of a continuous stream of thunder sounding off and ringing through the house. It was odd how the simple task of opening a door became of a nerve-racking ordeal when stealth was of import. By the time Creed lifted his hand from the door knob, Raenef had worked himself up pretty well, eyes wide like yawning holes in his head as he searched the hallway with his eyes and ears for any movement. Nothing appeared to be amiss, and once he'd assured himself of this, he gave his older partners, who had both turned to stare at him with pity, a sheepish smile and relaxed a bit.

Train sighed, exasperated. Glancing in either direction of the hallway, he quickly decided that this entire floor was under renovation. Paint cans littering the floor, canvas pulled tightly over windows. Doors leaned against the walls, leaving empty hinges and almost intimidating blank spaces that seemed like they might eat someone who wandered close enough. He narrowed his eyes. _Or someone could hide in them and not make a sound opening doors to ambush us.._ He started off toward a staircase, eyes flicking uneasily back and forth, carefully guiding not only himself but his teammates down the center of the hallway, keeping a safe distance from the gaping doorways.

The floor just below that one showed more promise. At least the doors were on the hinges. He led his partners through, this time at a much more brisk pace. Doors were thrown open now, weapons taking aim at nothing in particular in each one so no one had time to react, and when one room had been thoroughly inspected- each one taking the whole of thirty seconds with Train standing guard outside each door while his two partners tore the room apart until there was nowhere left to hide- they moved onto the next.

Activity was minimal, excluding the occasional outward collapse of the contents of a few closets which often took several seconds of pointed glares and held breath to make sure no one burst out laughing. Train knew he couldn't be angry about this. They were wandering around in the pitch black groping around for a target they still hadn't found. If anything, they could blame the economy for catering this criminal and rewarding his corruption with this huge and very much unnecessary manor. This whole thing was becoming a nuisance. How many rooms could one house possibly have? How many did it need? More importantly, how many times had the floorboards above them creaked now?

Train had counted eight, but he'd been forcing himself to disregard it. Raenef's skittishness had probably just rubbed off on-

_CREAK_

"Oh, hell."

Raenef and Creed glanced up from their work to meet Train's eyes, which had suddenly hardened. His teeth were clenched tightly so that he began to worry they might shatter. He couldn't really afford to think about that, though. Because in that second, he'd been careful, he'd been focused. He'd been sure to pull himself from his thoughts and listen only to the sounds that were truly, physically there. And that had definitely been a footstep directly above their heads.

His partners straightened up, turning to face him.

"What is it?" Creed asked, his voice dropping low to accomodate Train's newfound panic.

"Someone knows we're here." Train hissed, turning on his heel to face outward. "We're leaving. Now."

He started off without waiting for a reply, and though his partners were soon at his heels and keeping perfect pace, some part of him was starting to feel the pressure, giving under an urgent feeling that they were not going to get away. He picked up the pace, not really sure where he thought they were gonna go. Up was no longer an option. Whoever was there had definitely already taken the upstairs.

"Rooms with windows. A decent sized window. We need to get out."

The two behind him immediately began muttering between themselves. None of the rooms on this level had windows. None of them.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive. That's kind of weird, now that I think about it. Kind of like.."

Creed trailed off, and Train paused, turning sharply to meet the alarmed eyes of both his partners.

"Find a way out, Rae. I don't care what way. We need to get out right now."

The blond rushed ahead, glancing around hurriedly while Train and Creed kept their eyes trained on him.

"No.. no.. _no.._" The boy was pacing the hallway at this point, having abandoned the idea of finding an escape in any given room. He sounded close to tears now, panic bringing his voice to a pitch that was almost painful to the ear.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything's sealed off. What is this? How could someone live in a house like this? No one lives here, Train. It's a trap house. It's a trap house, and I got you both into it _I'm so sorry_!"

His panicked words seemed to implode in on themselves at the last second, leaving him with gasping cries.

Train took him by the shoulders, shaking him violently.

"Raenef. Hey, Rae! Look at me." It took a moment for the boy to quiet himself, still breathing heavily, and look up at Train with watery eyes. Train couldn't help but feel like he'd just shaken a baby into submission. "We're gonna run now. I need you to be quiet and run with us. Let's go."

Train let go of him then, keeping his eyes on him for a moment until he saw him nod, then turned and started running, moving toward the stairs at the fastest pace he could manage without stumbling in the dark. It seemed to him he was doing a lot more tripping than he should. This was a trap house. That was unmistakable. From the looks of it, someone had gone to a tremendous effort to box them in here.

They descended the staircase, more jumping over the railing than actually taking the steps, until they hit the lowest level they could achieve. It definitely wasn't a basement, meaning this house either didn't have one, or the path down to it was in a different place. That was irrelevant. A basement was the last place they wanted to be right then.

The steps above them had given up on subtlety and had begun a thunderous pursuit down the stairs. Now that no attempt at stealth was being made, it was alarmingly clear just how many were here. Not an individual or a close group, as Train had hoped. It sounded like a small army.

"Shit. Shit. Shit, shit shit shit.." the word started out as a breathy snarl before trailing off and becoming more of a monotonous chant as he took off across the floor, his partners at his heels. Luckily, the front door wasn't hard to find. Less fortunately, he found it locked up tight with no visible way to open it from the inside.

"_Shit!_"

The footsteps had reached their level. Train threw himself against the door full force, trying to ignore the sound of approaching forces.

"'Raenef! Wanna show us a magic trick? Now's a good time!"

Train felt something in his arm crack but continued his effort. There was no audible response to his words. In fact, it was dead silent, the echoes of his violent prison-break attempt the only sound he could hear. He paused, panting heavily, and leaned his head against the door. He held onto his left arm, which had only just started to feel the sharp pain of splintering bone. Oh yes. He'd broken something. He took a second to gather his bearings before he turned to face his new company.

It was definitely not a simple mercenary troop. This was full-on military, advanced weaponry and armor that proudly displayed the name of the district for which it fought- Amestris. A quick glance at the floor confirmed what he'd feared- Raenef and Creed were down. Creed was lying motionless, but Raenef, to Train's horror, was still twitching, a gurgling whimper filling his mouth, bubbling from his lips every few seconds, like filthy water. Train raised his eyes from his partners to meet those of a dark-haired man that was walking nonchalantly toward him.

The guy glanced down at Train's partners, too, as he stepped over them both, and looked proud of himself. When he looked back up to address Train, the murderous look on the Black Cat's face made him flinch before he froze and refused to take another step. The man, clear now by the lights being shone on the assassin from every possible direction, appeared young. Maybe a few years older than Train. Though he seemed reluctant to get any closer, he raised his hand, palm up, toward Train, curling two fingers in on each other and holding them as if snapping his fingers was a serious threat.

Train kept his eyes trained on the man's, not giving him the satisfaction of a confused look.

"We've got your partners."

Train nodded, not breaking eye contact.

"I'm guessing that doesn't mean a lot to you. That's fine. I don't expect assassins to care about each other. But understand that you're not going anywhere, and as good as you might be with a gun," the man held the hand that wasn't poised to snap out at length and gestured to the ranks behind him, each with guns aimed at Train. "-you're not getting out of this."

Train didn't respond.

The man sighed.

"Men."

Train had already worked it out. Before the surge of soldiers charged him, before the taser lit his skin on fire and brought him first to his knees, then to his side, and then to unconsciousness. He couldn't leave without his partners. He wouldn't be able to drag them both away without killing a lot of innocents. He couldn't afford to fight.

The assault was brief. It took all of four seconds for the men to surround him, as easy as it would have been to get out before any of them could lay a hand on him- he'd already worked out a viable path in his mind- and in just as little time, they'd parted to let their leader through. The man stood over Train's twitching body, a smug grin on his face.

"Okay. That's a wrap, people. I want these three in handcuffs now. I need a good report written. Make sure you- are you listening? Make sure you mention that I was the lead on this taskforce. Have it on King Bradley's desk by tomorrow morning. Before office hours." he crouched down to grin at Train as the assassin's heavy eyelids started to slip shut.

His last few thoughts were oddly coherent, considering the sporadic jolting of his muscles, over which he definitely had no control at this point.

_Son of a bitch.. I'm gonna wipe that smile right off your face._


	3. Engrossed

"You overslept again, Ed."

Winry glared up at him as she set a tray of muffins down on the dining room table.

"Tsk tsk." Greed added, reaching past her to take one. Ed didn't miss the glance the homunculus spared for Winry's chest as he leaned by her side to get at the tray, and made a silent note to himself to punch him in the face later on. He ignored the pointed look his childhood friend was giving him, stretching his arms above his head and yawning.

He shuffled further into the room, eyes still drifting shut every few seconds. How could this ungodly hour still be considered late? It was barely past 7:00. He pulled out a chair and plopped into it lazily. He sat there for a few seconds, silent, and thought for a moment he might fall asleep again right there.

Fortunately for him, the lacking of the comfort of a bed made that impossible, and soon, he'd woken up enough to actually take in the faces around him. Reaching across the table for a muffin, he glanced around. Mustang was on the phone, listening contently and with the same smile he had on his face every time he won a fight. Olivier sat at the table, quietly sorting through three files. They were thick folders- definitely a good source for curiosity- but the sheer focus on her face made it very unlikely anyone would be brave enough to interrupt. Greed sat close to her, looking over the files around her arm while he ate the muffin. The other three homunculi were nowhere to be seen. Al sat directly across from Ed, staring longingly at the muffins on the table.

Ed blinked, trying not to feel the pity he knew his brother didn't want, but failing.

"Are they good, Ed? Are they like mom's?" Al asked. Ed blinked. He hadn't been paying attention to the food he'd been absent-mindedly shoving in his face. It was nearly gone now. He glanced down at the muffin in his hand, taking another bite, careful to taste it this time. He took his time chewing before he swallowed it.

"Hm. Close. Winry's getting good at this." he popped the remainder in his mouth, ready to brush off the topic if only for Al's sake. Swallowing more than he really should have tried to at once, he changed the subject briskly, which, for once, wasn't hard, since he actually was interested in this new topic of conversation. "What's up with Mustang? And Olivier?"

Al perked up as much as a metal suit could, happy for something he could help with.

"Mustang led a special unit last night."

Ed nodded. Mustang had been very serious last night, though he'd also seemed energetic, enthusiastic. He'd gone to quite the effort to make himself look sharp, too, and had left somewhere close to midnight.

"Well, they got their targets!" Al said cheerily.

Ed groaned inwardly. That was just what the colonel needed. Another ego boost. He glanced over in time to see Mustang staring at them, his face betraying his pride. It was clear he'd wanted anyone but himself to tell Ed. There was a certain satisfaction to having other people talking about what a success you were. Ed sighed, turning his attention back to his brother.

"He seems excited." Ed noted quietly. "Pretty big fish then, huh?"

The major general looked up from her work then, casting a disapproving look at Ed.

"Still in your nightclothes?"

Ed blinked, glancing down to make sure he hadn't forgotten to dress himself before he came down.

"No, actually."

Olivier didn't react beyond sweeping her eyes over him again and making an "alright, fine" kind of grunting sound at him. She shuffled the files into an organized mess of a pile and slid them across the table to him.

"Very big fish." she confirmed, sitting back and waiting for him to open the files.

Ed sighed. It was too early for this. Opening the files with the maximum amount of enthusiasm he could muster, Ed only half-expected to find anything worth reading. What decent crime lords did they really have around here anymore? The worst potential targets he could think of were-

"What."

He read over the initial report attached to the inside of the first file again, feeling a mixture of confusion and astonishment. Mustang took them down? That would score him some major points with Fuhrer Bradley.

"The Cats."

"Yes, Fullmetal. _The Cats." _ The colonel had apparently ended his phone call, and had taken the opportunity to sneak up on the eldest Elric brother. Ed could already tell this was gonna be a hell of a day to try and talk to Mustang. He refused to turn and meet Mustang's eyes, seemingly because he didn't really care, which was definitely a good cover, because the last thing he wanted was to let the cocky alchemist know he was impressed.

"So what, are they going to have a trial?"

Mustang wound around the table to stand beside Al's chair. His face was still a bit smug, but he was slowly falling back into a professional attitude.

"Actually, no. Not yet, anyway. We're doing a thorough interrogation. Fuhrer Bradley feels they could lead us back to their ring leaders." he paused, his eyes becoming distant, and Ed could only imagine that he was fantasizing about being the one to take the entire organization behind the Cats down.

Once again, Ed feigned disinterest.

"Cool."

Mustang frowned.

"Ya know, Fullmetal, I don't have to take you with me." Ed tried to ignore him, but now he was just a bit too curious.

"What?" he kept his voice low and kept his hopes down, just in case Mustang was messing with him again. The colonel smirked.

"I'm taking you all with me. God knows I'm not gonna lock myself in an isolated room with those three alone." Ed sat up straighter.

"Are you kidding?" he demanded, and was immediately disappointed by the way his voice had risen. So much for disguising his excitement. Mustang crossed his arms over his chest, grinning widely.

"Nope. You can come. But you're gonna owe me later." He motioned to the files in front of Ed. "But you'll need to study up first. Can't go charging in unprepared like you usually do, now can you?"

Ed ignored the snide remark, picking up the files and flipping through each, only half-reading them. These were the assassins that had the whole of Europe in a panic. And _he _was going to be there for the interrogation. Here he'd been prepared for another day of studying at the library.

He gathered what he could from the files, but it was difficult to understand exactly what he was supposed to be learning. Train Heartnet, the Black Cat, a master gunman. Creed Diskenth, the Gray Cat, possibly the world's best swordsman. The White Cat had no name on file, no given abilities. He was just.. there. No photos of any available. There was nothing regarding personalities, which was what would really matter in an interrogation where the three were bound anyway.

"Mm. Very interesting." he muttered sarcastically. Mustang raised an eyebrow.

"Drop the attitude. You need to know these things."

"I'm sure it's all super important. When are we leaving?"

Mustang paused, looking irritated.

"Whenever I feel like going."

"When?"

Another pause.

"Nine."

Ed smiled.

"Great. This'll be fun."

* * *

><p>Ed kept a steady pace down the narrow hallway to avoid stepping on anyone's heels- a courtesy which Greed seemed not to have any concept of. He'd nearly tripped the alchemist at least four times now, and it was wearing on his nerves.<p>

By the time they reached the interrogation room- a high security interrogation room, Edward noted as he took in the cameras aimed at the door and the several many more locks than was necessary on the door- he was ready to wheel on the Homunculus and bite his hand off. That, of course, ran the risk of breaking all his teeth if Greed had good enough reaction time, but it was a prominent option in Ed's mind no less.

Mustang paused outside the door and turned to face his entourage.

"I want everyone on your best behavior. That means no horseplay." he glared at Wrath for a moment, who shrunk back from him and hid behind Envy. Mustang relaxed his glare when he was sure he'd made his point. "No chit-chat either. We're here for the interrogation. If you want to talk, go somewhere else to do it. As for them.." he gestured to the door behind him. "Keep in mind that they are the most dangerous criminals Amestris has seen since Scar. Between the three of them, they've got just over a hundred kills under their name, and those are only the ones we were able to assign to them. You will not tell them anything. You will not engage in conversation with them. You may observe and ask the occasional question. Feel free to take notes. Don't let them intimidate you- they're tied up and very much unarmed."

He let everyone take in his advice before nodding to himself and turning back to the door. It took him just under a minute to get all the locks undone. The door opened with a grand sweeping motion, and the group stood outside the gaping mouth of it for a few seconds before taking a collective breath in and entering.

The room was brightly lit and uncomfortably small. The walls were plain stone, and it made the room feel even tighter. The prisoners were tied to chairs and sitting quietly at the center of the room. In front of them sat one more empty chair. The three were silent, staring up at the group that joined them now. Ed was surprised by the appearance of the three. At first glance, not one of them looked like assassins. A closer look quickly disproved this. Ed regarded the three as he and his companions took their places, Mustang taking a seat in the chair across from the assassins while everyone else lined up against the wall.

The one on the far left was the biggest of the three, definitely. He was a bit taller than Envy and rivaled in size only by Alexander. He wore a black coat that spiked up dramatically around the back of his head and cut off to be replaced by weaving strings at his chest. The rest of his outfit was less dramatic- black pants and boots and a choker. He sat up straight, holding his head high in defiance. He had silverish hair- the Gray Cat?- and cold blue eyes that gave off the most chilling feeling of apathy. It wasn't an "I don't care that you caught me" kind of apathy. It was more along the lines of "You're only alive as long as it doesn't inconvenience me", and it didn't go away until he turned to exchange a glance with the kid sitting next to him.

Swallowing, Ed followed his gaze. The one in the middle was easy to identify as the White Cat. He had a very petit build- easily the smallest of the three. He had blond hair that was held up in a cheerful and very hectic kind of ponytail and bright blue eyes that Ed felt very sure could probably suffice in illuminating this room if the lights went out. He wore a white coat without sleeves that hung down to his feet. Everything he wore beneath it was white as well, down to the boots. Ed blinked at the boy's feet. He didn't have a problem with boots, but those were hardly things to be worn.. well, for being an assassin. The kid wore white gloves, too, that were obviously meant more for looks than to keep his hands warm, as they stopped abrupty before reaching his fingers in a triangular jut. He looked uncomfortable in his position, still tugging absently at the ropes binding him every few seconds, and his eyes, though it was obvious he was trying to appear calm, flickered nervously around the faces of the group as if seeking out anyone who might help him. Ed realized with a vague sense of disgust that the boy couldn't be older than sixteen.

Edward glared more toward him than at him for a few seconds before turning his attention to the last, the one on the far right, who could only be the Black Cat. This was the one that made Ed nervous. His brunette hair was about shoulder length- probably if it didn't appear more just really fluffy than long- messy and arranged in a way that stuck out all over his head. It would be easy enough to say that he, too, wore all black, though his shirt, upon closer investigation, was a deep navy blue. His coat was long and dramatic like the White Cat's, and could easily be mistaken for a cape if it blew at the right angle. What drew the eye about this guy was his eyes, though. They were big, shiny, definitely, but most importantly, they were golden like a cat's, and they were terrifying. The Black Cat looked like exactly that- a predatory feline, and he looked like he could see right through everyone and everything. Ed was very sure he could probably see in the dark. The eyes were trained on the group from the moment they walked in, and continued to sweep casually over them until they had taken in every face. Once he'd effectively creeped out everyone in the room, the Black Cat began to let his eyes wander again, anywhere but the people that had come in.

Mustang cleared his throat.

"Well.. hello again." he said. There was no reply. He frowned, staring directly at the Gray Cat. "Hello." He repeated. The assassin looked him over for a moment and nodded briskly.

"Mhm."

Mustang looked over at the kid in the middle.

"Hello." he said it again, and the boy glanced up at him, smiling hesitantly.

"Hello." he answered back, cautious but apparently satisfied by Mustang's greeting that he wasn't in any immediate danger. Mustang nodded back at him before looking over at the Black Cat.

"And hello." he repeated one last time. The golden eyes flicked over to his face for a fraction of a second before returning to the task of scanning the room.

Mustang made an obvious effort to play it off, chuckling easily.

"Not very talkative today, are we?" He looked over at the White Cat, moving on quickly. "What's your name?" He kept his tone casual, drawing the focus of the younger assassin. No one expected a real answer, of course.

"My name's Raenef. And that's Creed," he said, leaning toward the Gray Cat. He ignored the annoyed glare he got from his much larger partner and leaned in toward the Black Cat next, who didn't bat an eye at the introduction. "-and this is Train."

The boy sat still and stared back at Mustang, prompting further conversation. Ed felt his eyes widen at how much the kid was willing to give away on a whim. Glancing around, it was easy to see that he'd shocked everyone else as well, though neither of his partners seemed surprised. Annoyed, yes, but not surprised. The White Cat did this kind of thing a lot.

"Really? Okay. Well thanks." Mustang said quietly, dumbfounded. He was staring at the kid like an idiot.

"Everyone keeps calling us them, or the cats, or the prisoners, or those guys, or those two guys and the girl, which, by the way, is very hurtful. There was a guy that was convinced I was his granddaughter, too, but I think he was here for drunk and disorderly or something. Anyway, now you know our names, so you have to use them." Raenef explained in a rushed sentence. Ed was surprised at how many words he could fit in a single breath. "Also I'm a boy." he clarified.

By this point, everyone had angled themselves toward the White Cat. Mustang had moved the chair to face him directly.

"Raenef.. It's Raenef, right? Did I get that right?" Mustang asked, his face and voice very friendly. The boy nodded furiously, the ponytail on his head bobbing around with the motion. "Raenef, do you know why you're here?"

"Uh huh. We broke into a place we weren't supposed to be."

"With what intentions?"

"We were gonna kill a guy."

"Mhm. What guy?"

"That's enough, Rae." Creed muttered, and the boy shut up.

Mustang glared indignantly over at the the Gray Cat.

"He can talk." he said, sounding like he was defending his friend's right to voice an opinion. Creed smiled politely at him.

"Sure he can." he said pleasantly, glancing back at Raenef, who met his gaze and winced at the accusation within it. "Just remember the limits."

When Mustang looked back at the boy, Raenef looked doubtful.

"Maybe I shouldn't talk to you." he mumbled, looking down again.

"You should definitely talk to me." Mustang urged. The boy looked over at the Black Cat for help. The assassin glanced over at his younger partner only to smile at him for a second before his expression dropped back into indifference and he continued looking around the room. Mustang sighed, exasperated.

"Look, don't worry about them, just-"

"I can talk!" Raenef volunteered loudly, smiling broadly now. Mustang blinked at him.

"You can?"

"Yep."

Mustang narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

"That's all there is to it?"

"Eyep."

"Well then." the colonel glanced back at his companions questioningly. Each one shrugged in turn. He turned back to face Raenef.

"Who was your target?"

"I can't give you information. I can talk though."

Mustang blinked.

"Then why would I want to-"

"Because making friends is fun."

The boy smiled at him. Mustang glanced over at Creed.

"Is he okay? You know." he pointed a finger into his own temple. The Gray Cat smirked at him.

"We've been trying to figure it out for quite some time now."

Mustang furrowed his brow, frowning and turning back to Raenef again.


	4. A Generous Offer

Raenef, though perhaps a bit slow, wasn't altogether stupid. It wasn't hard for him to put together that they were only speaking to him because they thought him a weak link. He found himself feeling bitter about it in spite of his nature, but remained friendly. He wasn't going to give away his partners anyway. These strangers would have to figure that out themselves, and he was all too happy to disappoint them in the meantime.

The black-haired man with white gloves and a very official kind of carriage, whom Raenef had deigned to call Jeffrey, was speaking to him. The demon lord was surprised to find he was halfway through a sentence, to which Raenef hadn't heard the beginning. He'd zoned out again.

"..could spare your partners a lot of-"

"What?"

Jeffrey blinked.

"You weren't paying attention."

"You're boring." Raenef argued, pouting. "Start over."

Jeffrey stared at him for a second, sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, and smiled a very forced looking smile.

"I said you seem like the most amicable character of this group, and if you would cooperate with us, it could potentially spare your partners a lot of grief. Since they're too dense to see the benefits of being helpful for us."

Raenef tilted his head, smiling.

"They're not dense. You're boring, so they zone out and don't listen to what you're saying."

There was a loud gasp of laughter from one of the weird-smelling guys lined up on the wall, but Raenef didn't have time to see which one before he stifled it. He glanced over at Creed, who was grinning, too. Even Train had the beginnings of a smirk on his lips. Raenef was funny now. This was pleasing.

Jeffrey had his eyes closed, smiling insincerely.

"Right, hilarious. You're funny. Wonderful. Now-"

"Thank you." This time, he'd done it with the strict intention of annoying Jeffrey, but the force with which the man was glaring at him still caught him off guard.

"Are you going to make me taze you again?"

"Wait, that was you?" Raenef withdrew indignantly, recoiling as far back in the chair as he could to express his displeasure. Neither he nor Creed had had time to see their assailant before they'd both hit the floor. He supposed Train had probably known all along, but in his desire not to have his voice on record at all, he hadn't said a thing. Jeffrey raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't know that?"

"You snuck up on us!"

"We weren't sneaking."

"You were too!"

Jeffrey stopped arguing suddenly, his facial features tightening up and then loosening as he forced himself to calm down.

"You're criminals. I think you know you deserved that." he spoke slowly, his voice strained under his aggravation. No one objected. He breathed outward heavily. "Now.. I really didn't want to have to make this offer.."

He had Raenef's attention now, as well as that of his partners, though Train still had his eyes flickering around the room to avoid eye contact with anyone. Raenef had already learned that he was perfectly capable of pretending like he didn't hear a thing while mentally analyzing every word said around him.

Jeffrey continued with caution.

"If you cooperate with us- and I do mean cooperate. Full honesty, complete answers to _everything _I ask- we'll make it so the public never hears of your capture. You can go free, under the condition that you allow us to keep surveillance over you, ditch your work as assassins, and take up legal jobs as citizens. You will not be tried."

* * *

><p><em>Please review! I don't like to work on things that aren't worth people's time- so if it's not worth reading, please say so.<em>

_MT_


	5. Said Generous Offer Rejected

"I don't think you know exactly what "try" means. You're using it all wrong." Raenef said matter-of-factly.

Mustang sighed. He wouldn't be looking to the White Cat for answers where his teammates were available if he could avoid it. This was getting tiresome.

"The way he used it means we'd have to go to court, listen to a judge and jury tell us what terrible people we are, and then go to jail for the rest of our lives." Creed explained quietly to Raenef, and the edges of his lips twitched as he tried not to smile. Raenef blinked.

"Oh." He paused. "But couldn't I just-"

"Probably."

"Oh." The White Cat giggled. Both of them were grinning like idiots now, an unsettling look of confidence.

"Exceution is a much more likely sentence for what you've done." Mustang growled through his teeth, eye twitching. He clapped his hands together and leaned in closer to them, making himself loosen up. "Unless you take the deal, that is."

"I think we can afford to pass on that, actually."

"What?"

"We happen to know a very good escape artist."

Mustang glanced over at Raenef and tilted his head with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Hm. What if we just burned him up on the spot? Think you'd take the deal then?"

There was an audible intake of breath from Al as well as a few others he didn't have time to identify simply by the sound of their gasps.

Train, who had been making a conscious effort not to look at anyone in the room, gave Mustang all his attention now, fixing big, predator-like eyes on him in a pointed glare. Creed, too, had adopted a look of murderous warning, while Raenef had lost his smile altogether, eyes wide and fearful.

"He can't actually do that, can he?" he asked shakily, not taking his eyes off Mustang's face.

"No, he can't." Creed answered in a low tone. He looked absolutely pissed. Mustang smiled. He had hit a nerve.

"I'd like to once again extend my offer to you. Talk to us. Give up on your... _career._ In return, we'll give you immunity. Deal?"

Two sets of eyes turned expectantly to Train. Raenef looked almost desperate for him to say yes, while Creed just looked irritated. The Black Cat turned his attention to his partners, eyes losing their paralyzing quality immediately like it was a setting he could simply turn on and off depending on who he was addressing. He shook his head slowly, and Mustang felt his heart sink. Hadn't he bought the bluff?

"You're absolutely sure about that?" he persisted weakly. Train returned his attention to the wall now, a clear refusal to answer any further pursuits.

"I'll bet I can fix that." Envy volunteered suddenly, startling everyone as he pushed his way through them to stand in front of Train. The Homunculus leaned in close to the assassin's face, smirking. Train finally met his gaze, though his expression remained neutral, his lips shut in a tight line. Without warning, the chair he was tied to was flipped violently backward, throwing the disabled assassin into the wall behind him. He landed heavily, but, with the exception of a quick gasp of shock, remained quiet.

The room was dead silent for a long moment.

Mustang sighed loudly.

"Envy, go pick him up." he ordered, burying his face in his palms. Although he knew that had been assault- and on a bound prisoner, no less- and illegal, he'd rather hoped it would evoke more of a response. The assassins quiet calm was unnerving in the worst of ways. The Homunculus snorted, standing still for a second with his arms crossed.

"We could get away with torturing them, you know." he snickered, and looked directly over at the other two, who glared back in turn. "We've got some connections up high." he explained to them informatively. With that, he looked back at Train, rolled his eyes, and reluctantly complied with Mustang's command.

He dragged the assassin back up by the back of his chair, replacing him next to his partners. He licked his fingertips and corrected a few misplaced strands of hair for Train, smirking to his face again before taking his place on the wall again. The assassin glared after him, but didn't make a sound. Looking more closely, now Mustang could see that he did look a bit disoriented. He'd probably hit his head on the wall.

"Sorry about that." Mustang apologized graciously.

Creed snorted loudly, looking disgusted. Mustang ignored him, trying to meet the Black Cat's eyes. The assassin refused to let him.

* * *

><p><em>Having a bit of a writers block right now. It's one of those moments when you know what you want to happen, but you can't think of proper words to move it along, and you're stuck in a prolonged moment of awkwardness, as you try desperately to grasp words that fit. Please forgive my lousy work.<em>

_MT_


	6. Question and Answer

Train sat silently, trying hard not to focus on the spots in his vision. The impact with the wall had scrambled his brains, and though he'd dealt with all forms of injury, concussions being prominent among this history, he always hated waiting for the dizziness and eye problems to subside.

The questioning had continued in spite of his clear rejection of the proposed deal, and though being disregarded irritated him to no end, it did him a lot of good to watch his partners break the good colonel's will.

"We're going to talk about your boss."

"Whatever you say."

"Let's start somewhere easy. Is your leader a man or...?"

"Or what?" Creed asked, blinking. The colonel blinked back, gritting his teeth.

"A woman, obviously."

"Obviously? If you already thought you knew, what are you asking me for?"

"Is your boss a man or a woman?"

"Yes."

The man kept up his questions without missing a beat, as if he expected an actual answer to come out of the assassins' lips eventually. Train gave him points for persistence, but none for intelligence.

"Where does your boss take office?"

"Somewhere in the western hemisphere."

"I thought it was the eastern hemisphere, Creedy." Raenef objected helpfully.

"I don't even know anymore. Let's say either the eastern or western hemisphere. It's definitely one of those."

"How many assassins are employed by Chronos aside from you three?"

"Oooh, now _there's_ a number. It's probably a pretty high number, too. I don't know. How high do you think they can count in roman numerals? Rae?"

"At least eleven."

Creed looked back up at the colonel without batting an eye.

"At least eleven."

Train could listen to them elude his questions all night, more than entertained by the frustration slowly growing on their interrogator's face. He was suffering, all right. In fact, he looked damn well close to jumping out of his chair and shooting both of Train's partners in the face, but he was confident that the man had better self-control than that.

The others weren't doing anything at all anymore. They sat or stood and listened intently to the interrogation from Hell. A few chuckled quietly when anything particularly clever was said. No matter what happened now, they would go down as the most annoying criminals ever taken into custody, and there was something bitterly amusing to the idea.

He wasn't sure exactly how long they'd been sitting here. Given that everyone in the room had left at some point to get food or "take a break" by now beside Train and his partners, it became evident that it had been at least a few hours. There was no clock here, and the colonel never tilted his wrist at the right angle for Train to get a good look at his watch. It was annoying not knowing everything about his situation.

The door swung open very suddenly, surprising everyone. Train hadn't heard the footsteps approaching, though, to be fair, Raenef had been in the middle of a very loud ramble concerning the work conditions Chronos had. The woman that entered was stout and dressed in a military uniform much like the one the blond woman with the cold eyes was wearing. She had short hair and soft, brown eyes that swept over the entire room upon her entry, taking in especially the tired-looking assassins all seated obediently in their little chair prisons and the exasperated look on the face that turned to greet her.

"Lieutenant Ross." he stated her name and passed it off as a greeting. She stood at attention for him for a moment.

"Colonel Mustang," she began, thankfully giving Train just a little piece of the information he craved. Now he knew the name of their aggressor and interrogator.

"Raenef!" the White Cat interjected with a wide grin. Lieutenant Ross looked around Mustang and blinked at the boy.

"Just ignore him." Mustang sighed. "Go on."

The Lieutenant gave him her attention again, clearing her throat.

"Chronos has issued a formal warning to this station."

Everyones' eyebrows went up.

"What?" Mustang stared at her, his face blank.

"Their officials have hacked into our system and found the Cats. They've left a message on every screen connected to the network."

A few people, Mustang included, reached into their pockets, drawing out cellphones and opening them with a curious kind of wariness.

"Sending armed units to retrieve the Cats. You will not make any attempt to resist or detain said units. Such actions will result in the immediate demise of everyone within this station." Olivier read aloud, her voice growing louder and more intimidating every couple of words. She was furious. All eyes fell on Train, which wasn't really fair. He was just as surprised as they were. He could understand if he'd been the only one captured and Raenef and Creed had come to get him on their own terms, but this was new. Chronos didn't baby its employees. If they were caught, they were left at the mercy of their captors, and if they chose to talk, well.. Even if they managed to get out alive in the first place, they did so with the understanding that they had exactly the amount of time it took Chronos to locate them to live.

"Colonel Mustang." Ross went on, drawing their attention back to her.

"Yes?"

"Fuhrer Bradley has ruled that this interrogation is vital to the Amestrian justice system and that the casualties that may be involved are a justifiable loss. As such, he has directly requested that the Cats be transported to a more discreet location."

Train felt the air around him grow tense at the term "justifiable loss". Even he and his partners understood that that wasn't right. He saw them both grow somber at the idea of innocent lives being lost because of their silence, but it couldn't get in the way. They had to behave.

"Where would that be?" Mustang asked quietly, refusing to address the source of the tension. The woman straightened up, her face taking on a pleading quality.

"Please take them home with you."


	7. A Favor

Olivier stayed quiet behind her companions. It was her home they were discussing, but Mustang was the commanding officer right now, so she kept her mouth shut and chose to let him make this decision. It wasn't like they didn't have plenty of extra room to store a few assassins anyway.

"Take them with us? Lieutenant Ross, we're not a prison. It's a civilian residence."

"Where a large number of alchemists and Homunculi live."

"That's too much, I'm sorry. We just can't. We can't be held responsible for them and-"

"Please remember that this is a direct response from Fuhrer Bradley."

Olivier rolled her eyes. Those would be the deciding words. Mustang would do anything to put himself in high standing with the Fuhrer. He stuttered dumbly for a few seconds, trying to sort a few proper words out, and pretended to be weighing it out.

"Well.. how long do we need to keep them?"

"Just.. until you get the information we need... And then we can ship them off to Madagascar or something-"

"Hey!"

"-Promise."

"Won't they just come to us instead?"

"Higher officers such as yourselves have your names changed or removed entirely in written reports and records. It's a precaution we've recently adapted because of Scar. But it went into effect long before you caught these three, so Chronos won't know any of you are involved, not only with the Cats, but with the state at all. You'll appear as average, albeit wealthy civilians."

Olivier raised an eyebrow, impressed. The state was definitely taking steps in the right direction. She had to respect that, at the least.

Mustang bit his lip as if in consideration.

"...Alright." he answered finally.

The relief on her face was immediately apparent.

"Thank you, Colonel Mustang. We'll arrange-"

"No, we've got it." Olivier interjected. Ross looked up at her questioningly, a quiet doubt as to whether she should be speaking where Mustang's authority was sufficient. Olivier ignored the look and gestured toward the prisoners. Ross could sulk if she wanted to. Olivier wasn't going to have a large crowd of soldiers dragging three bound young men into her house. Not where she could downplay it as much as possible.

"Greed, Alex, Envy. Get them to the car."

Her brother was the fastest to react, lifting the Gray Cat off the floor by a single leg of the chair he was tied to. Creed's eyes widened as he spat down at Alexander.

"Oh, hell no! Put me down!" He paused, staring incredulously at her brother. "Wait, are you sparkling? What the hell."

Alexander brushed past Ross with a quiet "excuse me" and ignored the assassin who was now attempting to kick one of the sparkles that always somehow manifested around her brother's head.

Greed and Envy stayed put, glaring at Olivier.

"Are you trying to order me around, woman?" Greed sneered.

"Are you trying to piss me off, Homunculus?" she retorted.

"Ooohhhh." Raenef cut in. "You're gonna get in trouble."

Greed glared at Olivier a second longer before begrudgingly unfolding his arms and walking over to the chair where Raenef was tied up. Taking hold of the back, he dragged the demon lord out at a brisk pace.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee-"

They all watched him go with the excited assassin.

"Come on, Greed! Put your back into it! You can lift him!" they all heard Alexander call encouragingly in the hallway.

"Oh, yeah! Pick me up! Pick me up pick me up!" the cheerful voice slowly faded as they continued on down the corridor.

"He's a weird kid." Ross pointed out. Mustang sighed.

"You have no idea."

Lacking in anything better to do, Envy quickly got bored with trying to be stubborn and walked over to where the Black Cat sat still. He stared him down for a second before winding around behind him. The Homunculus began to tug at the ropes.

"Envy!" Ed yelled at him, taking an impulsive step forward. Envy ignored the alchemist and finished untying Train. The assassin sat still, staring directly forward.

"Up." Envy commanded, and the Black Cat complied quietly. The others watched in shocked silence while Envy took the ropes that had bound the assassin to the chair and carefully retied his hands behind his back. Taking hold of the back of his chair with one hand and the scruff of the Black Cat's coat in the other, Envy led a surprisingly well-behaved Train out the door, dragging the chair behind him.

The others followed him quietly, with Ross continually making little apologetic and appreciative and what easily passed as flirtasious remarks to Mustang as they went. By the time they got to the car, Olivier was ready to throw something at her. They were in the middle of something pretty important right now.

Mustang stopped suddenly, and Olivier almost walked into him.

"What?" she muttered, looking up questioningly at the car. The assassin-bearers had left their charges sitting on the sidewalk to stand in front of the car and argue loudly. Envy still had hold of Train's coat, and Olivier was a bit impressed to see how patient he was being, standing quietly beside Envy without struggling while the Homunculus bickered with the others.

"What's going on here?" Mustang asked irritably. The three looked up at him, looking annoyed.

"What are we gonna do with these three?" Greed demanded, motioning to Raenef and Creed. "The chairs won't fit in the car _or _the trunk."

"Have you tried tying them to the roof?" he said jokingly.

"Yes. The chairs won't stay put." Envy answered, his face dead set. He was serious.

"Oh."

"Just leave the chairs. Keep their hands bound and put them in the backseat." Olivier took charge instead, and earned another questioning glare from Ross. She ignored the lieutenant and got in the car with a huff. She watched the three exchange glances from her seat before closing the door.

"Well okay then."

* * *

><p><em>I'm not gonna threaten to stop writing this if no one revie<em>_ws, but I'd really like some feedback. Please review- I need to know if it's worth reading._

_MT_


	8. Road Trip

Train did his best to do as he was told if only to keep the impulsive Homunculus from having another fit and throwing him or something, quietly allowing the ropes binding his hands to be replaced with handcuffs made of cold metal that made his wrists uncomfortable, but in the end, he still got shoved into the backseat hard enough that he slammed the entire right half of his face into the window on the opposite side. He barked in pain on the impact and tasted blood on his lips. He'd not only bitten his tongue, but had given himself a nosebleed. He straightened himself up, determined, and forced the neutral expression again, ignoring the blood dripping down over his lips and off his chin.

Alex, as the woman had called him, wasn't nearly as rude to Creed, pushing him gently down by the shoulders and instructing him to watch his head. Greed appeared too lazy to bother with abusing Raenef at all, opting instead to simply hold the door open and gesture to the inside. Raenef took his place next to Creed quietly and winced as the door was slammed shut next to him. The locks slammed down into the door where they couldn't be reached, leaving them helplessly stuck. Train was confident they would have been able to escape this if not for their close quarters, which left no room to maneuver out of the handcuffs.

Looking around, Train found that this was basically a police limosine. An elongated car of lavish design, no doubt with all kinds of unnecessary commodities up front. The windows were tainted black so he would no doubt be completely unaware if it became completely dark while they were inside, and the section they sat in was disconnected from the rest by another sheet of the stuff, which he was sure was sound proof. Those were some tax dollars at work.

It didn't really matter what it was called. Pressed uncomfortably close against his partners, he knew there was no way they were getting out of this one. Not in this state, anyway.

He sighed wearily.

"Fan fucking tastic." he muttered.

Creed glanced over at him at the remark, and squinted questioningly.

"Train, what happened to your pretty face?"

"Police brutality."

"Oh no!" Raenef breathed, looking genuiniely concerned. "We should sue them for pain and suffering."

Train stared at him to see if he was joking, but the demon lord had a straight face, which meant, as was often the case, he had no idea what was going on.

"Raenef, we're in line for death row. I don't think anyone's going to sympathize with us."

"Police brutality is illegal." Raenef insisted sternly. "You weren't doing anything, so it was unnecessary."

At this point, the car lurched forward, moving at first at a slow, shuddering pace that gave off the illusion of a dying engine. After a few seconds, however, the movement became smoother, the pace faster until it blended into their minds and settled comfortably, making it feel like they weren't moving at all again.

Train listened while Raenef made little noises to narrate their journey, a "_neeeeyyyrrrr" _kind of sound while they were driving, a shrill kind of screech whenever they stopped accompanied by a "_vroom vroom_" when they started moving again. Train rolled his eyes, smiling lightly.

It really didn't matter that he wasn't the brightest kid ever, or the greatest fighter. He was what they had, and he was important. Everything about him was necessary. Childish sound effects included.

"ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR." Raenef yelled loudly, cutting off Train's thoughts. He looked up quickly.

"That one was louder." he commented, blinking.

"That was a very decisive sounding stop." Raenef explained.

"Decisive?"

"We're here."

The engine turned off at that moment, leaving them suspended in a silence that only lasted a second. The muffled sounds of doors opening and closing and voices murmuring unintelligle words to one another accompanied the subtle vibrations of movement within the car, and within a few moments, the door they'd been shoved in through opened again. Mustang held the door open while the three that had brought them here dragged the assassins out one by one.

"What happened to your face?" Mustang wondered aloud, tilting his head at the Black Cat. Train licked at his lips. He'd forgotten about the blood. Now it was dried onto his face. Gross. He didn't answer the colonel, but gave Envy a pointed glare. The Homunculus didn't seem to notice.

"Line them up." Mustang ordered once he was sure the assassin wasn't going to answer him, and the Cats were led to stand by each other again in a line while the colonel looked them over with contempt.

"Alright, listen up." he said. Train put on his best listening face. "You are still in our custody. You are still very much prisoners. You will speak when spoken to-"

He glared at Train, who gave him no response whatsoever.

"-keep your mouth shut when not being spoken to-"

Raenef pursed his lips sullenly, but was disregarded as Mustang turned to address Creed.

"-and cooperate to the full extent of your ability. You.." he looked Creed over for a moment. "-will keep your partners in line."

He paused, and Train realized almost immediately that he was talking to Creed because he honestly believed he was the sane one of the three, the only one that didn't have some kind of communication deficiency. Raenef, the talkative kid with nothing to say. Train, the silent "leader" type, who somehow always had the last word. Creed- the only one who appeared capable of putting together coherent sentences. Train smirked as Creed put on his innocent face. He'd gotten it, too.

"You sure expect a lot from us, all things considered." he said, his voice level and so calm it was eerie for a moment before taking on a more unsettling tone- a voice that seemed to hide under itself, something inherently evil and absorbed within itself. He sounded fucking crazy, to be plain. His eyes crackled with defiance as a wide grin spread over his face, and now he looked the part, too. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. We're more likely to trash your house, steal all your food, set the place afire and leave you all to burn."

Mustang looked taken aback for a moment, then dejected. He should have known from the start, but now he was beginning to really see it. All three of them were capable of horrible things, some in different ways from the others. All three of them were off the walls. Raenef, the child in the skin of a teenager who wouldn't really listen to anyone but Train and Creed. Train, all but a killing machine, who hated being told what to do. Creed, the one who could easily take the form of someone's best friend before promptly stabbing them in the heart, who hated being asked to tell Train what to do.

Mustang moved his lips for a few seconds without sound before he found words.

"Well.. I don't think that'll be something we need to worry about.. You're still going to be tied up."

"True." Creed answered, and Train was thankful to him for intimidating their captors for him so he could hold on to his silence. "But I don't think anyone's ever just tied three assassins to chairs and left them sitting in their house while they went to bed. Anything could happen. I really hope you don't have any trouble falling asleep tonight."

Mustang snorted.

"Thanks, but I'm sure we'll be just fine."

* * *

><p><em>I'll be getting to a point soon where I can add new animes into the storyline. If you have any you'd like, just say so. Also- I note that peoples want Sven and Eve to come up. I'm trying! I have to find a way to fit them in. <em>

_MT_


	9. First Contact

Ed awoke to a different scene than he was used to. Not his usual nightmares, not the sunlight streaming through the open window.. it was dark. He sat up in bed and stretched his limbs out. Scratching his head, he looked to the window he usually left open every night, and found that it was closed.

"What the.." he got up to investigate, ignoring the unpleasant feel of the cold floor on his bare feet. He paused in front of the window, staring out with his mouth gaping.

"Brother! Snow! It snowed last night!" His brother's cheerful voice rang through the hallway, and if not for the metallic clank of his hurried footsteps, would have been the only warning before Alphonse threw open the door and leaned into Ed's room.

"I noticed." he said, unable to take his eyes off the snow that coated what felt like the entire world outside the house.

"Winry closed your window for you when it started coming down." Alphonse went on. Oh. There it is. Alphonse turned to leave, bouncing excitedly. "Come on! Get ready! We have to play in it!"

"Hm?" Edward mumbled drowsily as he dressed himself.

"Play. In. It." Alphonse enunciated, gesturing toward the window. Ed pulled on his shoes, stood up, and yawned into the sleeve of his red coat before slipping past Al and entering the hallway.

"I thought it was interrogation day?" he murmured. He didn't know why he was suddenly so adamant on following procedure- he wanted to go outside and throw snow around with his brother like when they were little. The Cats weren't even that interesting.

"Couldn't we question them later?" Alphonse whined behind him, keeping pace as they passed the room where the three were being held, probably still asleep. "They're not going anywhere."

He was right about that much, and in that case, Ed was almost sure he could convince Olivier of it. He just needed to make sure he asked before she strapped that sword to her waist.

* * *

><p>Ed sat in a chair across from the Cats, a towel wrapped around his entire body. After two hours spent in a snow war with Alphonse- one that his brother had won only because he could load up his armor with reserve snow for emergency snowballs- he'd come in shaking cold, and the towel had been forced upon him almost immediately. He'd have argued more over it if Winry hadn't pulled that "I'm-worried-about-you" guilt trip of hers. He pulled the towel tighter around himself, stuffing his face into it in an attempt to bring some feeling back into his cheeks. It wasn't even him she really needed to worry about. Al was the one who might rust.<p>

Ed blinked, still feeling like ice had formed in his eyelashes, and looked up at the three, whose expressions didn't appear to have changed in the slightest. The White Cat smiled pleasantly at him, eyes wide and shining like a childs. His relentless friendliness was becoming less a question of his normality, and more a question of his sanity. The Gray Cat had cold eyes focused on Ed's face, an indifferent visage that gave him the feeling that he could attack at anytime he chose, and stayed tied up strictly by his own choice. Ed found himself getting up and checking that his ropes were safely intact before he could stop himself, and as he sat back down, he watched the outline of an amused smile fade off the Gray Cats lips. The Black Cat, as always, remained silent and distracted, his attention lying anywhere he could possibly place it but on Ed. At the moment, his eyes were measuring up a wall he'd measured up a hundred times before, like he was seeking out a crack that he could disappear through.

They obviously had no intention of making themselves useful, and that meant they were just wasting time and space. Ed scowled, the sensation of pins and needles pricking at the inside of his face as feeling began to come back only frustrating him further. He sighed wearily.

"You have to ask for an attorney in order to get one." He said. The three said nothing. "Do you not want to invoke your right to an attorney?" Again, they said nothing. Ed felt his nostrils flaring as he struggled to stay calm.

"Will you relinquish your right to an attorney?" He glanced over the assassins. Even Raenef had his mouth firmly shut this time. He narrowed his eyes and let himself slide down into his chair. This was going nowhere. Maybe they should have let Olivier pursue her own methods.

There came a light knock at the door now, and, with the assassins giving no hint of letting up, Ed answered.

"Come on."

Winry opened the door slowly, struggling not to drop the plate full of food that she was balancing on one arm, her hand wrapped firmly around a glass of milk. Despite her best efforts to keep it still, the milk trembled noticeably in the glass, and Ed thought for a moment she might drop everything. Thankfully, after opening the door, her navigation into the room was easy enough, and she had no problem getting the food safely to the table at the center of the room. She set it down, and, looking relieved, glanced up at the assassins. She looked them over quietly, and the three gave her all their attention. She blinked.

"Hello again." She said with a friendly little wave as she straightened up.

"Hi!" Raenef responded cheerily. Ed turned to look at him, and he clamped his mouth shut again, shaking his head slowly. Edward sighed and looked back over at Winry.

"Thanks."

She smiled again, and turned for the door.

"Oh, and make sure you drink the milk this time. If you pour it out the window again, I swear I'll force it down your throat while you sleep tonight."

Ed felt his eyes widen with the knowledge that she would definitely do that. He glanced over at the glass and stuck out his tongue, making a vomiting noise.

"It's cow juice. Who looked at that stuff and thought 'I bet that'd taste really good'?" he growled, and when he looked up at Winry, he was surprised to find her smiling, a reminiscent sort of look in her eyes. He blinked. "You okay?"

Winry reanimated with his query, shaking her head. She laughed easily.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And I'm serious about the milk. Cow juice though it may be, if you don't drink it, you'll be short forever."

"I'm not-"

"Eat your lunch, Ed." She interrupted, already in the doorway. She shut the door with firm finality. Ed would need to find a more discreet method of disposing of the milk.

* * *

><p>Once Winry had left, Ed picked up the plate and took his seat across from the Cats again, eating quietly and avoiding any sort of eye contact. The stew Winry had brought for him was delicious; she must have learned from her grandmother. Briefly, Ed felt a flash of his own kind of remembrance, and found himself surprised by the thought that he missed the nagging old Pinako. He stared down at the bowl in his lap, smiling lightly.<p>

He wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been staring at the stew, but it must have looked pretty odd, because Raenef and Creed were both staring at him when he finally got done with his nostalgia, looking very concerned. The Black Cat still refused to look at him, though it occurred to Ed that, for once, his eyes were fixed on a single point in the room. Following the assassin's eyes, it became evident that he was staring at the glass of milk, almost longingly. He blinked, looking back at the assassin.

_You've got to be kidding me._

"What?" he asked, and Train glanced over at him for a second, as if the sudden noise had made him momentarily forget his no eye contact policy. He looked away as quickly as he could, taking his eyes off the milk again.

"What?" Ed repeated, leaning closer to him. He paused for a second to see if the Black Cat would respond, already knowing full well that he wouldn't. "You want it? I hate milk. You can have it if you don't tell Winry it wasn't me who drank it."

Train wasn't acknowledging him anymore, and he seemed to radiate unfriendliness, as if to compensate for his moment of weakness. Ed ignored it and stood up, leaving his towel in the chair. This was his chance, and he might not have another for a while. He picked up the glass and took the few steps to stand in front of the assassin. He held it out to him as if he would actually be able to move his hands to take it anyway.

"Here. Take it. Just.." he blinked again and looked around. Setting the glass down on the arm of the Black Cat's chair, he wound around behind the assassin, and stared nervously at his tied hands. If he just untied his hands, only for a second.. That would be okay. Just his hands. Just him. He would keep a gun on him if necessary. Having reassured himself for a moment, he quickly undid the knot tying Train's hands and took a wary step back, in case he decided to try anything. The only real change that occurred was that now the other two were staring at Train, a silent question as to what he intended to do now. Ed wondered too, but if he was going to do anything, it obviously wouldn't happen anytime soon. He even seemed to be holding more still now.

Ed sighed and scratched at the back of his head. What were they interrogating these three for? They wouldn't interact with them. Nothing more than Raenef's little outbursts and Creed's moments of condescending backtalk. They weren't getting anywhere.

He paced back around the chairs where the three were tied up and strode over to the window, staring out at the snow. Earlier in the morning, it had been a perfect blanket. Now it was littered with craters from which supplies for snowballs were taken, footprints, the remnants of tattered snow forts. Even the occasional full-body skid mark. Ed smiled. Al took his snowball fights very seriously.

He rubbed at his eyes and pushed a few strands of stray hair out of his face before turning and heading back to his chair. It wouldn't matter if the Black Cat's hands were tied or not. He wouldn't do anything with witnesses around. That much was clear. Sinking down into the chair that might have been comfortable, were it not so stiff, Ed looked up at the three, exhausted already. It would be a long day. Raenef and Creed were staring at him now, both looking very amused, and neither averted their eyes when he made eye contact with them. He didn't have time to wonder what the hell they had done before his eyes caught the gleam of the glass, having moved only slightly from its original place on the arm of the chair, but enough to place it directly in the path of the light overhead. It was empty.

Ed looked up at the Black Cat, startled, and watched him lick his lips before returning his attention to the wall on his right.


	10. Afterthoughts

Creed watched the door slam shut behind the short alchemist. He'd been more than a bit ruffled by Train's actions, though Creed and Raenef had found it a nice respite from the otherwise humorless situation. The kid had tied Train's hands again before rushing out. That had been a disappointment. The way he'd looked, Creed had hoped he would be too flustered to remember the ropes. That would have been their saving grace.

He glanced over at Train, who had done very well in keeping a straight face until the guy was gone, but was now smiling like an idiot.

"You smug bastard." Creed laughed.

"He had it coming."

"You don't have to look so pleased with yourself."

"I don't understand why he was so upset." Raenef added, blinking. "He told you to drink it."

"He did. He must have some kind of a weird milk fetish. He gets off on watching people drink cow juice."

"Some people wait their entire lives to hear a sentence like that."

"What's a fetish?" Raenef interjected. There was a pause.

"That's a word you won't need to know for a good while." Train answered cautiously.

"Oh."

Raenef appeared to lose interest almost immediately.

"Alright Rae. You have a plan to get us out yet?" Creed cut in. The room went silent for a second.

"Yep!" Raenef answered, smiling at both of his partners.

"Really?" Train mumbled. He looked expectantly over at Raenef. "That was fast. Let's hear it."

"Well." he began. "Erutis and I talk on the phone all the time. Pretty much every third day, and it's been four days since I last called her. So she's probably gonna call us really soon and when she does, we'll be able to hear the ringtone and find my phone and then we can ask her to send help."

He looked so proud of himself, it almost hurt Train to have to shoot him down.

"Raenef, you can't-"

He was cut off suddenly by a muffled tune he couldn't identify. Some flowery Japanese song. He searched the room, flicking his eyes around until they came to rest on a chair at the other side of the room.

"They hid our equipment behind a chair." Creed sounded disgusted. Train smirked.

"That's my ringtone! We're saved!" Raenef cheered. By the way his chair was shaking, it was clear he was trying to spaz out like he always did when he was happy. Train sighed.

"I hate to break it to you Rae, but that's not gonna help."

Raenef tilted his head.

"Why not?"

"We can't answer that."

"Yeah we can, it's right there!"

"Raenef-"

"Answer the phone." Creed interrupted, blinking at Raenef and jerking his head toward the chair it was hidden behind.

"I will." Raenef replied, looking very determined. He began tugging furiously at the ropes, to the point where Train was worried he might tip himself over. The boy struggled until he'd worn himself out, and the ringtone had dimmed and died off several seconds before that. He sat quietly for a second, looking himself over in irritation.

"We're tied up."

He sounded genuinely disappointed.

"You tried. Gold star for you."

* * *

><p>Creed sat quietly, eyes flitting around as if they might suddenly gain the ability to see in the dark. It was night, and the dark surrounding he and his partners left him feeling isolated, like there were miles between them on either side. He twitched an elbow and felt Raenef shifting beside him. Sighing, he forced himself to relax. It was just an illusion of the darkness. It was unsettling to him, and the knowledge that Train was perfectly at peace in this situation only made it worse.<p>

Irritated, he glared up at the flashing red light of the surveillance camera the Amestrians had set up in the corner of the room. He wondered briefly if it had infra red or if the alchemists were just as blind as they were now. Tilting his head, he decided quickly that is was probably just a normal surveillance camera. It was weird that anyone would have such a thing just lying around their house. Stranger still if it somehow turned out to be exactly the kind of camera they needed for the night.

Soft breathing next to him as well as the lack of a strained tremor from Raenef signified that his youngest partner had finally fallen asleep. He smiled to himself, closing his eyes and attempting to do the same.

"I wish they hadn't put him right next to us like this." Train murmured suddenly, startling Creed. He'd rather assumed the Black Cat was done talking for the night.

"You don't want him to scream 'tomato' in the morning."

"It's going to happen, Creed."

"I got used to it."

"I hope he wakes all of them up and they lose sleep."

"How old are you again?"

The room fell silent again, leaving Creed with a stupid smirk on his face. That's right. It was going to be just the same as any other morning. Raenef would wake up from his usual nightmare, scream tomato, apologize for deafening his partners yet again. It would all be the same. Except they would be tied up.

Though he had no idea how they'd do it, he was absolutely certain that their being tied up was just another temporary pain. In fact, this entire ordeal was only temporary. He was sure of it. They would get out of this. They always did.

Eyes closed against the night, he found a rhythm in the White Cat's breathing and let it serve as a lullaby. Bobbing his head in time with each sighing breath, it took only a few moments for him to fall asleep.

* * *

><p><em>Not really sure about how to make this work. I did find a way to bring the characters from Demon Diary into this, and that'll play out later. But there's still the minor issue that... there's not a lot of interesting things that can happen when three of the main characters are tied to chairs. :| Forgive me for how slowly this is progressing. I'm trying. Anyway, please review.<em>

_MT_


	11. Take Flight

Raenef wasn't entirely sure what it was that had awoken him from his dream. Just a moment before, the image of a cruel, dark, blood-thirsty version of himself was grinning down at him as it watched him shatter like glass. Though his waking up had saved him the terror of his nightmare, he wasn't used to being awoken by outside noises.

He blinked a few times, his eyes and mind still foggy from sleep. Glancing around, he found Train and Creed still sleeping soundly. That would be most humans for you. Unobservant, just because they're asleep. Eclipse would have been furious with Raenef for not noticing..

He blinked again. Noticing what, exactly? What had woken him up? He looked around, pleased to see that his sight was getting stronger as he shook the sleep away. It might have been the sunlight that had crept into the room at some point during the night. It could have been the chilly breeze that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere and bite at his face. More likely it was the sound of boots scuffling at the window sill as the window itself was jarred open.

He was sure he should be doing something, saying something. Maybe alerting Train and Creed that someone was sneaking in their window again. He found himself ignoring that impulse and watching as a girl dressed like a knight dragged herself up onto the sill and dropped down into the room with incredible stealth and grace. She straightened up and locked eyes with him for a second. Grinning hugely, she stepped aside to make room for another infiltrator to make his way in. The contrast between their entrances was almost satirical. Where the girl had entered with professional precision, the boy scrambled at the window, stumbled back, nearly fell out, balanced himself, then fell inward. He landed with a loud thud and an exhalation of his held breath.

The knight laughed quietly, jabbing at his side with her boots.

"Good job, Chris. You were born for this."

Raenef perked up at the name, and now that he looked them over again, was disappointed with himself for not recognizing them at first glance.

"Chris! Erutis!"

The knight looked up from her partner, who was lying in a grumbling heap on the ground at her feet.

"Yeah yeah. Good to see you, Rae."

Glancing around himself, Raenef was surprised to find that Train and Creed had been stirred not by the loud entrance, but by his enthusiastic greeting. The two were still blinking sleep from their eyes when Erutis crossed the room to scrutinize them and their restraints.

"You got yourself in pretty deep this time, huh, Rae?"

Raenef smiled cheerily and nodded for her.

"Yep! And you're gonna get us out cuz you're a good friend, aren'tcha?"

Erutis chuckled breezily.

"Yeah, I think I can manage that."

Train and Creed watched the two quietly for a moment, keeping their eyes on Erutis as she pawed around behind them at the knots binding their wrists. After a few moments, she stood back up and looked around the room. She didn't seem to find anything interesting until she started scanning the walls and ceiling, at which point she noticed the security camera.

"Oh."

Chris gathered himself off the floor while they talked, grumbling about how this wasn't his job, the stupid demon could find him himself, and about the overall state of the world's spirituality. Raenef never understood the complaints of an aggravated Chris. The boy wandered closer to the captives, attracting the attention of both of Raenef's partners, who were already satisfied that Erutis wasn't a threat.

"Oh, dear god, Raenef, what have you done?" Chris sounded panicked as he finally took in the whole of the situation.

"What?"

"You got arrested? We let you out of our sight for a few months, and you've already come to this! But.." he paused, perking up. "But that means you're an evil demon lord now. I was right! And, as a priest, it's my civic duty to elimina-"

"I'll push you back out that window, Chris."

He paused, glaring at Erutis, but not willing to challenge her. She was considerably bigger and stronger than him, after all.

Creed snickered quietly.

"If that's a priest, heaven must be in a desperate state." He muttered under his breath. Train smirked and nodded knowingly.

"What did he say?" Chris demanded loudly, taking a semi-threatening step toward them. His advance ended abruptly as Train lifted his head, and his gaze was met with the glare of a killer. Chris stayed in the corner for the most part after that.

Erutis clicked her tongue scoldingly, laughed, and drew her sword from its sheathe.

"Keep still, boys." She warned before circling around behind them and going to work hacking the ropes apart. Raenef hadn't realized before how thick the knots had been until it came to his attention that she was spending the whole of two or three minutes on each knot. When finally he was free, Raenef jumped up, stretching his arms out above his head. How long had they been there? He had no idea anymore, but the feeling of being able to move again was so delicious, he was having a hard time thinking it had been anything less than an eternity. He paced the floor while he waited for his partners to be freed, making each step long and drawn out and just so pleasant.

A few minutes later, Creed was up and about as well, although his movements were a bit more measured, almost restrained, as if he was putting forth an effort not to behave like a child and go bouncing around the room just because he could. Just like Raenef had.

She began cutting Train free now. Impatient with how close they were now, it seemed to be taking the longest time, the quiet of which was becoming uncomfortable as it slowly dawned on Raenef that it was bright outside. Their captors would be waking up. Possibly awake already. He wasn't sure how long it would be before they came in again, to interrogate them, to give them food, maybe. He'd also been waiting a long while for them to come in with a knife and torture them, but as of yet, that hadn't happened. He let his mind wander for a while, to recap the time they'd spent in this room alone. Nothing interesting had happened since they'd gotten caught. That was unacceptable.

As his mind traced over the days, a nagging feeling in his head begged him to remember something, an event out of place. Something was off.

"Wait.." he mumbled and Chris looked over at him.

"Hm..?" Erutis mumbled back, her focus remaining on the ropes.

"When you called, we didn't answer. We were tied up."

"Yeah, I know."

"So how did you find us?"

He glanced over at Creed for approval. The Gray Cat was completely still now, narrowed eyes burning questioningly into Erutis' head.

"Eclipse spazzed out when you didn't answer the phone. He dragged us out here to get you."

"But we didn't answer. You couldn't have known where we were." Raenef persisted.

Erutis finished with Train's ropes then and straightened up, sheathing her sword. Train stood up slowly, turning to face her.

"How did you find us?" he reiterated Raenef's question without pause, and Erutis found herself the focus of two assassins' attention, which was uncomfortable to say the least.

"We followed the tracker we put on his phone." She shrugged nonchalantly and motioned to the cut ropes on the floor. "Don't I get a thank you?"

"You put a tracker on Raenef's phone?" Raenef could only begin to imagine the murderous heat his glare was probably putting on Erutis. She really didn't deserve to deal with it.

"Can we go? They could come in any time now." The assassins' attention fell on him, vicious glares softening.

"Yes, let's go." Creed agreed, turning and heading for the window. "I'll go crazy if I spend a minute longer in this goddamned room." Train glowered at Erutis for a second longer, then paced over to take Raenef by the wrist and lead him toward the window, too. He followed quietly, happy, at the very least, to have taken the predator's eyes off of Erutis. Creed stood to the side of the window like a soldier, eyes boredly tracing the movements of everyone in the room. Train went down first, landing easily on a separate level of roofing several feet below. He straightened up and looked back to the window.

"Come on." He called to Raenef in a loud whisper, the kind you get when you need to be quiet but for some reason also feel like yelling. He held his hands up and Raenef jumped down easily, too. Train caught him by the shoulders and steadied him, and they both waited quietly there for the others to follow. Once again, Erutis appeared to know perfectly what she was doing, while Chris required the help of all three of them to avoid falling off the edge.

Once they had all gotten down to that lower level of the roof, they spent what felt like a million times longer shimmying down a drain pipe. Raenef and his partners got down rather easily, but it was with Chris' slow progression down that he realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that his friends might not be welcomed by Train and Creed. He glanced over at the two, but they were both very busy quietly encouraging Chris, assuring him with unconvincing certainty that he would be fine. Despite their best pep talks, he did fall, at least twenty feet off the ground. The yelp he produced before he was caught by Train and Creed below nearly gave Raenef a panic attack, but there was no audible response from within the house. Though he was relieved, Raenef found himself sighing in exasperation. How much noise did they have to make to wake up a few lousy soldiers?

Erutis eased down the pipe with more confidence and let go at about five feet off the ground, landing gracefully on her feet and starting off across the lawn with a sense of entitlement, as if she had every right to be there. Looking very annoyed with her lack of caution, and with a quick shove at Chris' back to get him moving, Train followed, Raenef and Creed close behind.

Raenef cast a few glances over his shoulder, admittedly a lot less worried than he should have been at that point as they went. Nothing happened. He found himself a bit disappointed. The escape hadn't been nearly as exciting as he'd hoped. The movies had lied to him.

* * *

><p><em>Okay, this would be the solution I found. Yes, Leeche is here, she's just not shown yet. I'll be finding a way to use Sven and Eve soon, as well. Anyway, the next thing I submit will be a second explanation, like the one in the beginning. This was originally meant to end somehow, around here, but I thought of quite a few things I could do. Consider this the end of part 1, I guess. <em>

_Thanks for reviewing, and please continue to do so._

_MT_


	12. Explanation Part Two- A Sequel

Alright, this shall be the end of what I am now calling Part 1. Yay.

Anyway, another explanation is long past due, and I think will probably be crucial to anyone understanding the mess that this story is about to become.

1. The story was originally intended to end somewhere with the Chronos Cats in the custody of our alchemists and friends, but a few other things that could happen popped into my head, so now you're stuck with the story a while longer. Sorry.

2. Leeche, Sven, and Eve will all appear soon. Hm… Well, Leeche will. I've not really worked through Sven and Eve yet. But they'll come sometime, don't worry.

3. I'm going to start adding more animes now. Yup. There's really no solid list of what all animes I will use, but it's really whatever works. And yes, sometimes, their situations will shift so they can fit into my story. Like how Creed was loony, but I made him sane because c'mon guize it's my Creedy I need him in my story. ;w;

4. I know this story is probably becoming irritating to you all, and I apologize, but I've never been good at finishing things that I enjoy.

5. No, the Fullmetal Alchemist characters are not going to leave the story now.

6. This, I believe, is going to get interesting. I know a lot of animes, and a lot of characters I can certainly use. In the end, it'll probably end up like a taking sides sort of thing. Like Team Edward and Team Jacob. Who's Team Train, and who's Team Amestris? Okay maybe not exactly like that. The characters I introduce now will gradually find one side of the primary conflict, which is between the Cats and the Alchemists, and support it.

7. While interesting, it may also get a bit crazy. Sorry about that, too. But I won't do anything to destroy the storyline. Let me know if you think I'm overdoing it, please.

Please bear with me. An end will come eventually. Maybe. We'll see how charitable/motivated I'm feeling.


	13. Because It Went So Well the First Time

Train felt his eye begin to twitch before she even had time to introduce herself. The little girl approached them, blond hair assorted into two dramatically spiralling ponytails, and when she called out to Raenef, her voice grated on his nerves. Everything about her, right down to the puffy dress was a step too far for him. She was one of _those._ He could feel it.

"_Neffy!" _she called to him, her voice raised so that Train almost worried that the alchemists could just follow the sound staight to them all the way from the manor. He scowled at the nickname. How hard did you have to be trying to come up with that kind of ridiculous pet name? She ran to the White Cat, jumping at him and taking hold of him by the shoulders in an embrace made awakward by the fact that she was at least a foot shorter than him. He imagined it made Raenef incredibly happy to finally have someone around that was smaller than him. Train glanced over at the little cleric kid, realizing that he, too, was shorter than Raenef, and rolled his eyes. He'd suddenly gotten a very good idea as to how the demon lord chose his friends.

The girl hanging off his neck was dragging his upper half to the ground, and he looked relieved when she finally let go. Turning to face Train and Creed, the girl smiled confidently and bowed in a way that denoted not respect, but a learned courtesy.

"Hello there. I'm Leeche." she introduced herself, taking on a suddenly formal tone. "Raenef's fiance." she added, narrowing her eyes at Erutis. Train stared at her, mouth gaping.

"Finace?" he turned to Raenef, who was very busy wringing his hands. The boy glanced up at him and then over at Leeche, then back to him, opening his mouth every few seconds as if to speak, but no words came out.

"You're engaged?" Creed prompted, raising an eyebrow. Raenef looked at the ground.

"Kind of.." he mumbled. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that he wasn't happy about it. Train crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes.

"That's ridiculous. You're too young to be engaged already. You don't know what you want yet." he scolded. Raenef looked dumbfounded.

"Train, I-"

"No. Absolutely not. You're with us now. You're not getting married at your age." Train said firmly, aiming a pointed glare at Leeche. The girl glared back, circling her arms around Raenef's waist.

"We're getting married in nine years! He'll be old enough then." she argued, keeping her eyes on Train while she attempted to squeeze Raenef's insides out.

Train shook his head, locking his jaw, but before he could speak, Creed cut in, apparently having picked up on the conversation.

"Absolutely not. He's not making that committment at this age." he affirmed, standing beside Train and crossing his arms, matching the Black Cat's facial expression. Raenef looked more confused than he had in a long time.

Leeche opened her mouth to protest.

"Oh!" Raenef exclaimed, causing the girl to jump. He smiled gratefully at Train and Creed before looking back to Leeche. His expression changed from appreciation to apology in no time flat, causing Train to wonder exactly how much acting Raenef did with his emotions. "Sorry, Leeche. But you probably shouldn't argue with them." He murmured.

The girl looked near tears, but she took a deep breath, puffing out her chest. Turning on all of them, she strolled over to where Chris and Erutis stood with a loud huff. The moment she was out of earshot and not paying attention anymore, the demon lord all but attacked his partners, wrapping his arms around both of them as far as he could.

"You guys are the best." he mumbled into Train's sleeve before letting go and turning back to his friends.

"You're not going to ask to bring them with us, are you?" Train asked, eyes narrowed. Raenef froze.

"Well.. they did just come and save us, and they were my friends first.. We can't just tell them to leave after that, right? That wouldn't be right, right?" Train could feel him seeping into a ramble again, and chose to cut him off before it got there again.

"We don't owe them anything. They chose to come here. We didn't answer when they-" he paused, looking up to glare at the back of the knight's head. _That's right_.. "Hey!" He called to her, brushing past Raenef to go and stand behind her. She turned to face him, smiling easily.

"Yes?"

"Who the hell do you think you are putting trackers on Raenef?"

"Track_er._ Singular. On his phone, not his person." she corrected, crossing her arms. "And we were just trying to keep him safe."

"That's his phone. You had no right. I mean, Jesus Christ, what did you think was going to happen to him in our care?"

"I thought he might get captured by someone and tied to a chair. Sorry, I know that's a bit far-fetched."

"We had it under control." Train growled.

"No you didn't. We got you out. Otherwise you would have been stuck there much longer. Maybe forever."

"They wouldn't have put up with us forever."

"You wouldn't have gotten out. You're welcome."

Train turned abruptly on his heel, ignoring the implied request for a thank you. He wasn't thanking this woman for violating Raenef's privacy. And he sure as hell wasn't going to try and be friendly with them.

* * *

><p>Ed stared at the door, trying to ignore the yelling still going on upstairs. He sighed loudly. The moment he'd opened the door and found that the cats had disappeared, he'd known Olivier would be angry, but this was worse than he expected. She was beyond furious and currently looking for anyone she could blame. Heavy steps upstairs were clearly audible down here in the foyer, and he couldn't help but think everyone was just trying to sound productive right now so Olivier wouldn't hound them.<p>

Waiting for their guest to arrive, Ed found himself bored and took the time to ponder the evidence they had. The ropes had been cut. How? He had no idea. The Gray Cat's sword had been hidden behind the chair with everything else, safely out of reach. The only other probable tool that could have been used would be the White Cat's claws, but he doubted they were strong enough to cut the heavy rope. He could easily imagine Raenef getting about halfway through the ropes before giving up and whining about his fingertips being raw.

A sharp knock at the door cut into his thoughts, and Ed impulsively lunged for it, opening the door with a pull that had much more force behind it than was really necessary. The man outside the door held a fist up still, paused in the air to stare questioningly at Ed. He hadn't had time for a second knock.

Ed looked him over quickly. White suit, atache case, green hair- weird color- orange-ish eyes, an eyepatch and a white fedora. Maybe middle aged.

"Um. Hi." Ed greeted him. The man put his hand down and cleared his throat.

"Good afternoon. Is your mom here?"

Ed scowled.

"I'm a State Alchemist and I have the authority to arrest you."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause in which Ed noticed a petit young girl standing behind the man. She had blond hair that reached down to her knees and purple-pinkish eyes. She stayed quietly behind the guy while he adjusted his hat and cleared his throat again.

"Let's try that again."

"We probably should."

"Right.. Good afternoon, _sir._ Sven Vollfied at your service."

* * *

><p><em>I owe you something worth reading next time. Anyway, this will begin my second part. Also, I want to tell you something: I've been watching Pandora Hearts, and fell in love with Cheshire, and it brings me great sorrow that I can't think of a single way to bring him in to this story. Any ideas are welcome. Please- help to end my suffering. Anyway, please review.<em>

_MT_


	14. The Cheshire Cat

Raenef sighed, brushing a few hairs out of his face with his fingertips. He glanced over at Train again, wondering if he should say something to his seething partner. The assassin kept sharp, unfriendly eyes on Erutis, sometimes shifting them over to Chris or Leeche. Raenef reached out, poking him gently in the cheek. Train blinked, glancing down at him.

"Yeah?"

"Can't you try to be nice?"

Train's eyes narrowed.

"No."

"Please?"

"They're not coming with us, Raenef."

"Yes we are." Train jumped, though Raenef had rather easily sensed Eclipse's approach. Other demons were easy. He wished it was as simple to know when humans were sneaking up on you.

Train paused, hands raised defensively, and glared at the demon.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I am Eclipse. And we will be coming with you."

"No you won't."

Raenef shrunk back from the two. The two scariest friends he had were trying to start a fight. That just wasn't fair.

"Raenef, who is this joker to you?" Train demanded, disregarding Eclipse and turning to face Raenef.

"Um.. he's my friend.."

"I am his mentor and his loyal subject."

Raenef flinched. He hated it when Eclipse made himself out like that. Train looked impressed, looking back at Eclipse.

"So you're a servant."

"And teacher-"

"But you're a servant. I'm being told what I'm going to do by a _demon slave._"

Eclipse recoiled at the term, then straightened up, meeting Train's eyes defiantly.

"Yes you are."

"Huh." Train said. "Just making sure."

"So we're bringing them?" Raenef asked hopefully.

"Oh, of course not."

Eclipse's eyes flared.

"We're coming whether you like it-"

"Wanna bet?"

"You pitiful little-"

"Will you just stop? I said no. That's it."

Eclipse's hand shot up, palm a few inches from Train's face, and Raenef took this as a good time to bail, turning on his heel and sprinting off in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>"Ow.." he muttered under his breath, bringing his knee up to his chest to and licking at the now exposed flesh. He'd tripped over an obscenely protruding root and skinned his knee, tearing up the fabric of his pants. Eclipse wouldn't be happy about that. After a few seconds of self-pity, he stood up shakily and glanced around, confused. How far had he run? He was sure it hadn't been more than a few minutes, but nonetheless, this scene was entirely unfamiliar. He was in the woods.<p>

"Well that's not good."

"Lost?"

Raenef blinked.

"Hello? Someone here?"

"No, you're hearing voices in your head nyaa. Better start running. The men in white'll be coming for you any second now."

"It's happened before. Only they were priests. And they weren't there because I'm crazy or anything." Raenef said, smiling at the general area around him.

There was a pause.

"Cheshire can't have fun making you look stupid if you're already there nyaa."

"I am not stupid!" Raenef huffed, crossing his arms.

"Yes you are." the voice snickered.

"Nuh uh."

There was no reply, and for a moment, Raenef thought his guest had disappeared. Then heavy breathing on the back of his neck made him spin, and he was greeted by a skinny guy maybe about Creed's size grinning into his face. He took a startled step back, eyes wide. The guy had reddish brown hair that hid one of his eyes. The visible eye was a frightening shade of red, and it made Raenef very uncomfortable. Worse than the eye, of course, were the claws that spiked from his fingertips, long enough for each to be considered butcher knives by themselves. Raenef gasped, noticing that he also had a few features that easily dimmed the fear.

Those would be the cat ears and adorably twitching tail.

"You're a cat, just like Train!" Raenef said, mouth gaping.

The cat looked annoyed.

"That's not the response Cheshire wanted nyaa."

Raenef tilted his head.

"I'm sorry.." he paused so that his apology would sound more sincere. "Can I touch your ears?"

"No."

"Aw.."

The cat flicked an ear impatiently.

"Is that all? Really?"

Raenef bit his lip.

"I'd also really like to play with your tail."

The cat snorted.

"You're completely idiotic nyaa!" The cat glared at him, straightening up and crossing his arms to mimic Raenef's position. "Cheshire is a Chain. From Abyss nyaa. And all you care to say is _can I touch your ears?_"

"Sorry.. Well.. um.. what's your name?"

The Chain blinked.

"Cheshire." he said, eyes wide as if he'd just come to some earth-shattering revelation. "You're completely daft, aren't you nyaa?"

Raenef pursed his lips, furrowing his brow.

"No.. You're the one talking in third person when it's not necessary."

It was a weak argument, but the Chain shrugged.

"Maybe you humans don't use third person enough nyaa."

"I'm not a human!" Raenef volunteered the information quickly, happy to have something to put him at least a little bit above the average human in the Chain's book. Cheshire raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Then what are you nyaa?"

"I'm a demon lord."

Cheshire blinked, lowering his arms.

"Oh. Well then... _demon lord... _What are you doing wandering around out here?"

Raenef looked away, embarassed. He wished desperately for something more impressive to tell the Chain.

"I was running away because my friends were fighting." he mumbled, averting his eyes shamefully. Cheshire snickered.

"Figures. What were your friends arguing about?"

Raenef glanced back up to answer, and found that the Chain had disappeared. He looked around, almost panicked. A quick glance up left him staring dumbly while the cat floated a few feet above his head in a relaxed kind of reclining position. The cat glowered down at him.

"Answer nyaa."

Raenef swallowed nervously, not taking his eyes off Cheshire.

"Um.. they were fighting because my friends wanted to come with us but my partners don't want to bring them."

"Bring them where nyaa?"

Raenef paused.

"I don't know, actually." he responded, retreating into his mind for a few seconds to see if they'd discussed it already. No, he had no idea where they were headed. He shook his head and smiled at the Chain. "But we're on the run. From the Amestris alchemists. The police. _Wanted men."_

Raenef had thrown in the last two words for dramatic effect, but the more he thought about the title, the more he liked it.

"Hm. That sounds interesting nyaa." the Chain remarked, and disappeared again in a sweeping of limbs. Raenef barely had time to blink before he heard the familiar thud of feet hitting the ground, drawing his immediate attention to Cheshire, who had taken his place barely a foot away from Raenef, smiling pleasantly at him. "You want to take Cheshire with you."

Raenef blinked.

"Do I...?"

The Chain nodded slowly, keeping eye contact.

"Yes you do nyaa."

"Oh. Well, if you want to come-"

The cat tsked at him.

"No no. You want Cheshire to come with you nyaa. And because he has nothing better to do at the moment, Cheshire may consider it nyaa."

Raenef stared blankly at him for a second.

"You can come if Train and Creed will let you." he replied finally. The cat smirked.

"Alright.. If you really want him to, Cheshire will follow you back. But Cheshire can only come with you if you ask your mommy and daddy first."

Raenef didn't know why, but the way the Chain was talking was making him feel more and more like it was definitely him who wanted to have Cheshire along, and it made him suddenly determined.

"They'll definitely let you come!" he exclaimed excitedly, taking hold of one of Cheshire's huge claws and starting to lead him the way he had come. The cat complied with a smile and allowed the young demon to lead him. Raenef paused after about three feet.

"Wait a second.. Where did I come in from?"

* * *

><p><em>Will Raenef and Cheshire ever get out of the forest? <em>

_Yes. Yes they will._

_Focus on the story, guys. We're not having an "escape the forest" arc._

_Anyway... thank you, Witchsoul, for your awesome suggestion on how to get Cheshire into my story. I love you forever. Anyway.. I hope this one was better than the last chapter. I got it done faster because bringing Cheshire in made me so excited about it I just got it all done in a couple days. Anyway, here we are. Please review._

_MT_


	15. The Scarlet Cat, Among Other Strays

Train sat quietly on the curb, glaring daggers at the back of Eclipse's head. The demon was currently ordering everyone around, assigning each of them different directions to start looking. Train rolled his eyes. If he thought he was going to boss he or Creed around like that, he was going to be disappointed.

Though he was trying hard to be angry, worry was taking up much more of his mind. What wasn't worrying was preoccupied with guilt. It was a stupid mistake. He knew how easy it was to intimidate Raenef. And he knew what Eclipse meant to him, even if Train couldn't even begin to understand the appeal. He'd have fired Eclipse on the first day.

He sighed. The fault wasn't entirely on him, he was sure. Eclipse had to take some of the blame. That, of course, wouldn't help locate Raenef though.

He jumped to his feet the second he noticed Creed, finally returning from his individual search party.

"Anything?" he asked hopefully, though some part of his mind already knew that if Creed had found Raenef, he'd have led him back by the ear or something. He wouldn't have let him out of his sight. And Train didn't see him anywhere.

Creed came to rest a few feet away from Train, sighed, and crossed his arms.

"Nothing. I don't know where else he could have run off to. Then again, running off is his specialty. He's probably hiding in a tree or something. Then maybe he'll be taken in by a family of squirrels and raised as one of their own and-"

"Stop it."

The smile on Creed's face faded at Train's tone. The attempt at making this situation a little less tense had gone unappreciated.

"Sorry," he murmured, adjusting his hair a bit. He paused, blinking at Train. "You know I'm worried, too."

"I know."

"He'll turn up eventually, Train."

"I'm not worried about whether or not he'll turn up. I'm worried about what condition he'll turn up in."

Creed looked at the ground, nodding solemnly.

"Well.."

Eclipse glanced back at Train, narrowing his eyes at him. Train returned the gesture, but added a rather obscene motion involving one of his favorite fingers. The demon scowled, but turned his attention back to his peers.

"Train!"

His eyes widened as he wheeled back to face the direction from which he'd heard the voice.

"Raenef..?"

The demon lord barrelled into him at full force, pushing the air out of his lungs in a loud gust as he fell to the ground. Raenef landed on top of him, snuggling into him even when Train started trying to push him off.

When he finally got up, he did so only to attack Creed in a similar fashion. The others gravitated toward them, all looking relieved. Though they were all greeted warmly, Eclipse was the only other one the boy full-body tackled. Train got to his feet slowly, dusting himself off and watching the boy scamper back and forth between his friends.

"Where did you go?" Erutis demanded a moment after returning his greeting. He paused, blinking.

"I ran into the woods. And tripped and fell." he turned to Train, holding his hands up in a grand gesture. "And I found a cat! His name is Cheshire. Can we bring him with us?"

Train stared at him for a second, wondering vaguely if he was serious.

"You found a cat?"

"Named Cheshire. He wants to come with us. Pretty please?"

"Cats don't like frequent travel." Train lied, and regretted it immediately.

"Cats have their own personalities. Some like to travel and some don't." Raenef insisted, frowning. "And Cheshire wants to come with us."

Train sighed, glancing over at Creed. His partner was merely smirking at him like an idiot.

_Sure. Let me deal with it._

He looked back down at Raenef. He was smiling too, an expectant, pleading smile.

"Fine." Train agreed reluctantly, crossing his arms. He was confident the cat would run off and he would never see it again before long anyway. "Where is it?"

"He." Raenef corrected.

"He."

"Right there." Raenef said, aiming a finger in Creed's general direction. Train turned around and froze, staring at the guy that stood there, huge claws hanging lazily at his sides. Creed turned, too, a second after the "cat" disappeared right in front of Train.

"Alright." Creed said with a confused look as he turned to look at Train. "What's going on now?"

Train turned quickly, eyes wide and startled, to face Raenef.

"Raenef, what the actual f-" he paused. The guy was standing next to Raenef now, smiling wickedly. The demon lord gestured awkwardly to him.

"Cheshire." he introduced him a sweeping of his hands. Looking around the group, which had changed entirely to a circle of shocked expressions, he blinked. "Maybe I should have thought this through a little bit."

"Maybe you should have." Train agreed, staring dumbly at Cheshire. "That's not a cat."

"Yes he is." Raenef argued defensively. "He's a cat _Chain. _From Abyss."

There was a pause.

"Are you going to deny the fact that you conveniently left out the word 'chain' so I wouldn't ask and would just agree?"

"You're usually much less trusting than that."

"You're not usually good at lying."

"I didn't _lie,_ I just left a word out."

"That was a pretty important word, Rae. Where'd you even find this guy?"

"In the woods."

"And you just decided you should bring him back here with you?"

"I really want to touch his ears."

Train blinked, glancing over at the guy.

_He has cat ears._

"What's a Chain?" he asked, leaving the subject and turning to address Cheshire. The cat snickered.

"It's much too complicated for you nyaa."

Train sighed.

"We're not doing this."

"He can still come with us, right?"

"What? No!"

"But you already said-"

"I was misled and made to believe you were talking about a literal cat, Raenef. Not a semi-feline monster."

"Cheshire is not a monster. Chain." Cheshire amended forcefully. The cat scowled.

"Right. He's not coming with us either."

"Can we not do this again? Cuz you're just gonna get in another fight with Eclipse or maybe Cheshire and then I'll have to run again and I'll probably find an obscenely large dog to make friends with, and then of course I'll want to bring him with us..."

Cheshire hissed loudly at the idea while Train simply stared. He blinked.

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm just saying that's probably what'll end up happening."

"You devious little-"

"Pleeeease?"

"How are we going to run our jobs with all of these people?"

"They won't get in the way! If anything, they could help!"

"You think a bunch of strangers want to follow us around and run assassinations with us just to-"

"We'll just hang back and wait for you." Erutis cut him off. Train glanced over at her and narrowed his eyes. Looking around the group, it was becoming apparent quickly that he was outnumbered in this argument. Creed was the only one on his side, and he had to consider seriously now whether their solitude was worth forfeiting Raenef to these people. He sighed irritably.

"Fine. Whatever. They can tag along with us as long as they don't slow us down or get in the way."

Raenef let out an excited yelp that made Train jump. The others were less thrilled about the situation, but if they were bored, that would only serve to benefit the Cats. The sooner they got bored and left of their own accord, the better. He glanced back at Creed for feedback. His partner smirked back at him, blinked, and shrugged.

"We finally have an actual cat in our little unit." Creed offered helpfully. "We can call him the Scarlet Cat."

"Got names for everyone else, too?" Train asked pointedly, turning his back on their new travel buddies and placing himself in front of Creed instead.

The Gray Cat smiled bigger and shook his head.

"Nope. But I think we can both agree they're not here to cooperate with us. They're not teammates. They're just.. burrs. Burrs that are sticking to your coat for now, but they'll all fall off eventually."

Train blinked, tilting his head.

"That was either deep as fuck or really messed up."

"I like to think I can be both."

* * *

><p>"You're sure it's just these three? I'm almost certain they had accomplices. There's just no way they could have-"<p>

"That's what we thought, but they had no means of contacting anyone on the outside."

Sven blinked. This was going to be interesting. A pain in the ass, but interesting, nonetheless. He paused for a second to listen to Eve's quiet prompts for more details from the blond woman. Well, one of the blond women. He really needed to work on names.

"Alright." he said with a sigh, pulling out a cigarette and sticking it in his mouth. "We'll get right on this."

"Good. We're expecting great things from you, Mr. Vollfied."

"Mhm." he responded absently, searching his pockets but coming up empty-handed. "Where's that Mustang guy? I need a light."

* * *

><p><em>Alrighty then. That was fun. This one hardly took me any time at all! ^.^ Of course... that could mean that it's no good... Hm... Feh. Guess it'll have to do. Either way, here you are. Please review. :3 <em>

_MT _


	16. Little Thoughts

Cheshire stayed quiet, following closely behind the demon boy and his little friends. They were heading toward the city, which, in light of the details Raenef had given him, seemed like the least intelligent idea. But whether it ended well for them or not didn't matter. Cheshire was here only for the entertainment.

Listening to the group ramble on, it was difficult to imagine them being anything important. Cheshire couldn't imagine why the Amestrian authorities would be after them. It took a moment to realize that he _didn't_ know why they were running. Raenef had actually left something out in his winded recap of his troubles. He had inhibitions, no matter how small.

"You were tazed?" Cheshire zoned back in to their conversation in time to hear the boy's demon servant whining again. Eclipse, he concluded based on the fact that he was the only one referring to the demon lord as 'Master', was staring, shocked, at Raenef. That didn't last long, and soon turned to a pointed glare which he directed at Raenef's partners. "I should never have allowed Master Raenef to run off with you irresponsible monkeys. He could have been killed."

"You're full of shit." The blunt response came from Train's mouth without missing a beat, and the demon paused for a moment in recoil.

"Excuse me?"

"And deaf."

"Show some respect for your elders!"

"I thought we were supposed to respect Raenef."

"That's _Master_ Raenef to the likes of you!"

"Raenef, your demon slave's a bitch."

"He's just tired. Don't be mean."

"Master Raenef, don't-"

"Where are we going to sleep?"

"Bad time."

"I'm tired."

"Bad time."

"But I'm tired."

"Shut up."

The conversation was becoming crowded to the point that it was comical, and Cheshire was disappointed to find that it was the most interesting thing he'd witnessed in a while. His realm was becoming a very enticing thought now.

"Cheshire, where do you think we should stay?"

Cheshire glanced up when the boy addressed him and found the eyes of the whole of the group trained on him. He met each of their eyes before shrugging nonchalantly.

"Cheshire isn't here to help you. Figure it out yourself."

"Let's just sleep on a park bench!" Raenef volunteered cheerily, unperturbed by Cheshire's indifferent remark. That was a bit annoying.

"No. We're not sleeping on a park bench." Train shot him down immediately.

"We couldn't find one big enough for all of us anyway." Creed added in patiently, smiling with humor for Raenef's benefit.

"If you hadn't taken him from his home, he'd have a proper bed to sleep in." Eclipse muttered darkly, crossing his arms and turning away from the two. Cheshire was getting tired of his attitude already, and he'd hardly known him more than ten minutes.

"Actually," Cheshire said decisively. "Cheshire _does _want to help. He knows a good place to sleep, definitely nyaa."

Raenef bounced on his toes, spinning in a quick circle.

"Then let's go!" he cheered, bouncing up to the Chain and tugging on the tips of his claws. Cheshire wondered vaguely if he was about to cut himself, but the boy seemed fine, so he didn't say anything. With a quick smug look cast toward Eclipse, the Chain turned and started off quietly with Raenef on his heels.

The others, almost surprisingly, followed him without question. Maybe they were all just tired of arguing for a while.

* * *

><p><em>That took a really long time. Sorry about that. But here we are. This one is a bit awkward, sorry. Cheshire's perspective is hard to do! Anyway, please review.<em>

_MT_


	17. Remember Last Tuesday?

Sven stared down at the pictures of the holding room. It was taking longer than it should to sort through them all, but he didn't mind terribly. Eve had been very excited to operate the camera, and it had shown very clearly in the tremor of each of the photos. That wasn't his problem. The problem he was having had more to do with the distinct lack of any sort of useful evidence. The alchemists had failed to take mug shots of their prisoners, a simple task that would have made the entire process a lot easier. The room was typical- in fact, so average, he could scarcely believe any sort of professional would even try to use it to contain three famous assassins. That had been the most bothersome part. It was their fault for losing their prisoners. He and Eve were just the cleanup crew.

"They have extensive files." Sven jumped about a foot in the air, spinning on his toes to stare down into Eve's wide eyes, panting heavily.

"Geez, Eve! If I wasn't awake already.." he placed a hand on his chest to emphasize his surprise. Eve's face remained blank. She blinked.

"I'm sorry." She paused. "They have extensive files."

She held out a thick stack of papers. Sven looked her over for a second. She really needed to stop sneaking up on him. And as often as she apologized for doing it, he could hardly believe it when her apologies all sounded like formalities. He might have been annoyed with just about anyone else by now. He sighed and took the papers from her hands.

"Thank you, Eve. Do you have the witness accounts?"

"There were no witnesses. Everyone was sleeping. There's a security camera."

Sven began sorting through the files. It was a lot of information.. He really wasn't looking forward to reading it all.

"They were all asleep? At the same time? These are the people defending the public these days, I tell you, Eve, I fear for my life." He mumbled his little rant as he finished skimming the files. He looked up at her and grinned. "But at least there's a camera. They're not complete morons."

He brushed past her and held open the door to the office they'd been given to work in.

"Shall we?"

She nodded and strode out, her footfall light and quiet. It was a decent assurance to him to know that it wasn't his observation skills that were failing. She really was that quiet.

* * *

><p>"We don't have to take that from you, Mr. Vollfied. We're not paying you to critique our police work. You're here to investigate and help us recapture our prisoners."<p>

Though he knew she was right, Sven couldn't help but think that Olivier was only being defensive now because she knew he was right. They had screwed this up big time. He smiled politely at her.

"Right, I guess I really don't have much room to talk anyway. I'm sorry if I offended you, Ms. Armstrong." Though his apology was sincere, it only seemed to make her angrier. She turned on her heel and strode over to the opposite corner of the room, standing against the wall as if awaiting orders from a superior officer. She looked like she might bite someone's head off.

Left with Colonel Mustang, Sven turned his attention to the television screen.

"Okay.. I'm ready. Play it starting from.. let's say 8:00 yesterday morning." He watched the image shift as if the world was moving in fast motion on the screen. Well, most of it. There were three specific items on the screen that seemed stuck in the same position- the Cats. After a few seconds, the screen displayed a "play" icon, and the image stilled. The three were asleep, tied to the chairs in the center of the room. It was silent.

"Fast forward until we see some activity." Sven instructed, and the peculiar boy with the metal suit did as he asked. After a little while, the three awoke, and almost immediately began talking among themselves. "Play it here."

The picture slowed and the audio played. They were whispering. He couldn't hear a word of what they were saying. He breathed out heavily, frustrated.

"Fast forward some more."

It took a while longer for any sort of activity to arise. The next time to tape began to play, Sven immediately noticed the short blond kid tense up. He walked into the holding room onscreen, a towel wrapped around his shivering body, and sat down. Sven cocked an eyebrow. He'd been playing in the snow beforehand. How old was this kid, exactly?

Not much happened. The Cats were unresponsive, the only one really reacting to anything being the girl. Sven narrowed his one visible eye. That girl had an Adam's apple.

"Wait.. is that a boy?" About half the room cracked up, making it seem to Sven like the answer should be obvious. He blinked and looked around the room, trying to find someone who would answer his question. Olivier, unfortunately, appeared to be the only one not laughing at him. She stared back at him for a little while before nodding tersely.

Sven glared at the White Cat on the screen. What the hell kind of boy was that? He could at least try not to look like a girl.. Cut his hair. Not have such big eyes.

The room had only just quieted when Winry came in onscreen with food. She came and went with little in the way of theatrics, leaving the kid and the prisoners again. This time, something actually did happen. Though the lead-in was a bit boring for Sven to watch- how long could a guy stare at a bowl of stew, anyway?- it didn't take long for him to notice the Black Cat's wandering eye focusing in on the milk. Sven had a bit of an idea where this would go, given the kid's previously proclaimed hatred of milk, but he definitely wanted to see it play out.

A few moments later, the entire room was practically bristling, and the kid turned blood red as he shrunk down in his seat. He had untied the assassin's hands. Could he have been the one that allowed them to escape? Sven kept his attention on the screen, no matter how badly he wanted to see the looks the others were giving the kid. A few seconds later, the room went silent again while they watched the Black Cat's reaction. The golden eyes were glued to the kid as he waited for him to turn his back before snatching up the glass, draining it, and replacing it back on the arm of the chair in all of three seconds.

* * *

><p>A few more odd remarks made by the White Cat, a couple snide looks from the Gray Cat, and hours of complete listlessness from the Black Cat later, the night came. Nothing had happened. They'd seen the kid- Ed, Sven had learned, from the several profane scoldings he received from his colleagues- retie the ropes. Sven was getting more and more restless.<p>

_How the hell did they get out, then?_

The morning came and edged slowly onward, and still nothing was different. Cutting it pretty close, aren'tcha guys? He was determined to watch every minute up until their escape so he couldn't possibly miss the planning, but thus far, the Cats were still peacefully asleep, tied down and immobile. Sven felt his eye twitch in frustration.

He started fidgeting with his thumbs, much to the annoyance of the onlooking alchemists. Luckily, before he had a chance to really work them up, the window on the screen began quaking. It was hardly noticeable at first, but became impossible to ignore quickly as someone's head poked up outside of it, peeked in, and shoved the window open.

Sven felt his eyes growing wider along with those of the alchemists as he watched the two intruders enter the room, one with perfect stealth, the other with amateurish clumsiness. When had the Cats called for help? He searched his mind, but nothing came up. Nothing he'd seen had even begun to hint at a signal. How had these people found them? How did they know to come to their aid? The sheer unprofessional banter and movement of the two was all he needed to rule out co-workers. These two weren't high-class hitmen. They looked more like friends coming to break teenage accomplices out of their rooms after being grounded.

He watched them talk back and forth, making it clear that it was Raenef, the White Cat- the gender-confused White Cat, he mentally amended with a narrowing of his eyes- that the two were associated with. Sven was getting more and more irate as time progressed in the video. Though he knew how it would turn out- that was the reason he was here, after all- he couldn't help but silently encourage the alchemists, whose presences were lightly implied only by the rush of the escape, to awake and catch them before they could go. This took a lot of ignorance. Or maybe just an ill-prepared holding cell. Why hadn't there been guards? Why hadn't the windows been more carefully secured? The faults in this scene were so clear they were obnoxious. By the time they'd watched the last form retreat through the window, Sven was so thoroughly disgusted that he could hardly think of what to say to any of them that wouldn't come out as an insult.

Eve, who stood still behind him, blinked down at the hat hiding his face from her and spoke quietly.

"What time is it?"

There was a long pause before anyone seemed to register her question. Five different faces glanced down at their wrists.

"1:12."

"1:12."

"1:11."

Mustang glanced up indifferently in the general direction of the opposing voice before returning his attention to the security footage. Olivier glowered at Alexander, her face making the entire thing seem like the most vicious kind of scandal.

"Your watch is wrong, Alexander."

"I beg to differ, Olivier, I think yours is off."

The two locked eyes and the room seemed to collectively sigh warily.

"Not right now, you two. We have more important things to deal with." Mustang murmured, drawing the attention of both of the Armstrong siblings. He ejected the tape from its player, placing it carefully in a ziplock bag and handing it over to Sven. "I assume you'll be wanting this."

Sven cast a sidelong glance over at Olivier and her brother before accepting the bag.

"I think that might help, yeah."

There was an awkward quiet now, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be the one to break it. These people were nothing if not a bit loony. He turned in the general direction of the door, narrowly avoided walking straight into Eve, and waved wearily over his shoulder.

"So, if that's all.."

No one said anything, and that was his cue to leave.

"Right. We'll be in touch." He started through the door. "Come on Eve."

The girl followed at his heels, blond hair rustling softly behind her as each move appeared more of a quiet bounce than a step.

"Ready?" he said quietly. He glanced over at her as she carefully tucked her files under her arm, looked up at him, nodded, and smiled. He grinned back before looking ahead again as they reached the front door. "This case'll cover dinner for the next couple of weeks, plus my smokes and your books." He said, and it was true. They'd been offered a rather obscene amount of money for this by the Armstrong's. "We're going on a cat hunt."

* * *

><p>Creed opened his eyes, which were aching with the desire to remain closed. There was a moment of dazed confusion that nearly made him bolt upright. Where were they? Careful not to move too much- he'd learned to remain still until he knew exactly what situation he was in upon waking- he glanced around frantically. The room was unrecognizable. It looked like it was trying very hard to be homely, but it seemed cold and institutional to him. The daylight hardly touched them, muffled and painted a gross orange shade by the filthy curtains. A ratty carpet covered the floor, a color that had probably started out as cheap velvet but was now somewhere between maroon and brown. The walls were a manila kind of color, or maybe just plain white? The lighting made it difficult to tell. Yeah, it was utterly unfamiliar. And so were the people who were sprawled out all over it, some on the bed, some on the floor.<p>

He and his partners were leaned against the wall, huddled together as they often were when they slept. He remembered he and Train discussing how it was more secure to sleep this way, because if someone was awoken by an odd sound, their movement would wake the others. How it was better that they could reach each other without delay if anything happened. He remembered laughing at how much bullshit that was. This was for Raenef's benefit. Raenef, who had nightmares about giant tomatoes being murdered by his demon servant. More than that, it was for all of them. It wasn't like they had anyone else who wouldn't mind being so close to them. It was warm. It was nice. Presently, Raenef's head was leaned gently on Creed's shoulder while he slept, his hand clutching the tips of Train's fingers.

Creed lifted a hand to his face, careful not to rouse his partners as he pushed some stray hairs out of his eyes and blinked a few times. Wait. That's right. The escape. They'd escaped. This was a hotel room. A hotel room they'd broken into just for cover but apparently had ended up falling asleep in. He looked again at the faces surrounding him that had seemed unfamiliar before- yes, they, too, were coming back to him. Erutis, the knight- who, Creed admitted, would be likable if not for her blatant disregard for Raenef's privacy in putting a tracker on his phone- had taken one of the two queen-sized beds, and was sprawled out lazily to take up the whole of its surface. Chris, the little priest kid, was asleep on his side next to the bed like a dog that had been denied permission to sleep with its master. Leeche, the young girl who came across easily as a noble brat with a huge sense of entitlement, was asleep on the other bed, her form tucked neatly in to take up just over a fourth of the bed. Cheshire took up the rest, curled up in a ball that looked like it should be painful, but evidently didn't bother him. Eclipse, Raenef's demon servant, was asleep on the opposite wall. Creed seemed to recall him making a huge fuss over Raenef not choosing where everyone slept, about him not having full access to both of the beds. Raenef had been fast to brush him off and apologize to everyone on his behalf, like a parent covering for an overly obnoxious kid.

Creed stared at Eclipse, narrowing his eyes. Neither he nor Train liked the demon. He was unfriendly, he was pushy, and it seemed he had no problem with the idea of attacking them if he got angry enough, which served not as a threat, but an insult to the assassins. They'd have to set him straight pretty soon, if only not to see him glare at them like he was warning them, like he could actually do something. Glancing over at Raenef, he sighed wearily. He liked Eclipse well enough, though Creed couldn't see the attraction. Wasn't this the servant that had given him those nightmares? It was just a tomato, yes, but it still woke him up just about every morning screaming "tomato". There was another thing about Eclipse that bothered him, too, though for a different reason. Neither he nor Train had been made aware of what Eclipse was to Raenef. He'd mentioned him, but the words "servant" or "slave" had been clearly avoided, which Eclipse had gone out of his way to clear up directly upon their meeting. Just how well-off had Raenef been before they'd stolen him away? He always thought the boy seemed happy enough staying with them, but..

"Tomato!"

His thoughts were cut short by a sudden force that collided with his chin, coupled with a startled yelp made by Raenef. Shaking the dazed feeling from his head, Creed tried to find the boy through the colorful spots clouding his vision, but it was clear that wasn't going to work out, so he sat still and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the wall to wait it out.

"I'm so sorry, Creed!" Raenef's frantic voice was whispering furiously at him in an attempt not to wake anyone else, and Creed felt small hands on his chin as if to test whether anything was broken.

"I'm fine." He grumbled, smiling to prove his point.

"The hell was that?" Train's voice mumbled, sending Raenef into a gasping rant about the tomato dream and how it had scared him and made him attack Creed's chin with his head. This, of course, quickly grew into a panic that had him growling his words, as if the tremor in his voice made it whispering still although he was shouting.

"I'm really sorry." He reiterated for Creed's benefit.

Creed opened his eyes again, looking around. He blinked.

"I'm fine, Raenef. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

By now, everyone else was awake and watching the boy, most with amusement or dazed confusion. Eclipse, as always, with annoyance, most likely aimed at Train and Creed again. They'd caused this somehow, surely. Creed met the demon's eyes and smirked.

"Good morning, Eclipse. Sleep well?"

The demon didn't bat an eye, but didn't respond as he stood up and paced over to the curtains, drawing them open and making a disgusted face at the view outside.

"Master Raenef," he began, and Creed got the feeling he was childishly ignoring everyone else. "We should be going soon. If we wait much longer, it will be dark before we get out of this city."

* * *

><p><em>I have an idea for continuation. :3 This shit's gonna get good. And complicated. :I<em>

_MT_


	18. Literally the Reason They Make Leashes

"So we're that desperate now. We're hiring complete strangers to work our assignments for us?" Ed muttered bitterly, not addressing anyone specifically, but not particularly caring who heard. The upset over the milk had passed much more quickly than he'd expected, earning him at most a glare from Olivier. They'd had much more important matters to see to, anyway.

"The guy seems legit. Definitely not any kind of professional, mind you," Greed reported, shrugging to place emphasis on his indifference. "But if this clown could capture the Cats, I don't think this Sven guy'll have much of a problem, either."

Mustang seemed to bristle at the statement, and for a second, it seemed there would be yet another spat between the two. These fights never lasted too long before Mustang realized he couldn't effectively keep the Homunculus down without actually trying to kill him, which would definitely inspire violent intervention by the other three, and gave up. Best to take a seat and wait it out. However, not more than a single step was taken before Winry stepped in between them, holding out her arms as if she could honestly hold the both of them off.

"Stop it, both of you. We're kind of in the middle of something, you know." She scolded, and all eyes seemed to fall on the wrench she kept handy, attached to a loose belt. Mustang looked irritated, but backed off. Greed grinned deviously, taking a step toward Winry and leaning down so his face was level with hers.

"I like feisty girls." He said, a flirtation that earned him pointed glares from just about everyone in the room. Winry didn't react but to smile challengingly, turn away, and take a seat across the room from him. He watched her walk away, ignoring the others, before he rejoined the other Homunculi against the wall.

There was a long silence, everyone wondering exactly what they should be doing. Would Sven demand that they stay still and not pursue the Cats on their own? They all realized how incompetent they must have seemed to him. To have let their prisoners escape with such ease. It was humiliating, to say the least.

Envy looked around the room, eyes half-closed in his boredom.

"Well." He broke the silence himself, pushing off the wall and stretching his limbs. "As interesting as all of this is, I'm gonna have to bail." He started off toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Al asked, and though it was unclear through the thick armor, Ed imagined him tilting his head.

"For a walk. You guys'll just have to live without me for a little while." Envy sneered, and then he was gone.

* * *

><p>Raenef skipped down the sidewalk, sidestepping every few seconds to avoid running into people. They all seemed bitter to him, giving him dirty looks as they passed, as if he was acting weird. They were the ones glaring at people for no reason.<p>

"People are in a collective bad mood today." He announced, pausing and turning back to face his companions. They followed sullenly behind him, Train, Creed, and Eclipse with their eyes flitting cautiously around while the others looked more like zombies, unaware and unmotivated.

"It's six o'clock in the morning." Erutis griped. "People aren't in a bad mood, you're just in an unnaturally good mood."

His friends were getting too close again- couldn't have them catching up, or they might win the race- so he skipped ahead a few more feet and turned back again.

"Where we gonna go?" he asked, spinning once on his toes. There was a shared glance between Train and Creed before their eyes were once again occupied with scanning their surroundings for pursuers.

"I think Ikebukuro." Train replied slowly, without looking at Raenef. The demon lord smiled.

"Ikebukuro!" he chirped, very much pleased with the name of the city they'd be going to. He ran back to his companions, momentarily forgetting his imaginary race, and circled them repeatedly. After about the third circle, he'd appeared to have worn down Chris' nerves.

"Oh, for the love of.. Raenef. Six o'clock in the morning. Knock it off."

Raenef paused, wishing someone would say that it didn't bother them, but their silence served as a pretty good affirmation. He hung his head and stood still, waiting for his companions to pass him before he started walking again, this time at a somber shuffle. The group went quiet at this point, and he hated that. All of these people together, and not a single one talking. No one joking around. No one laughing.

Boring.

He let his eyes wander, but, unlike his more professional partners, was not looking out for pursuers. Just something interesting to do. Nothing really caught his eye at first- some boring brick buildings, some boring sidewalks, some boring people.

If they're all out here just to be cranky, these people shouldn't be out at this time of morning.

He was about to give up and see if Creed would play "I Spy" with him when his eyes fell on two very interesting characters among the crowd of boring. Two young children, probably close to twelve, maybe thirteen, wandered down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street together. One had navy blue hair and a lighter blue eye. He was wearing an eye patch, which, of course, invited Raenef to come up with whatever might be under it himself. He invented little squid tentacles reaching out of the boy's eye sockets in his mind before going on to note the fancy way he was dressed. His green dress shirt and shorts peeked slightly out from beneath the black overcoat that buttoned at his neck. He even had a top hat. This was just too perfect.

Raenef smiled to himself before turning his attention to the boy with him, who was a bit taller, but trailed around behind him like a puppy nonetheless. This boy had messy blond hair, and though they both had blue eyes, his appeared colder, almost shallow in comparison. This one wore a purple coat over his outfit of shorts that were probably way too short, socks that came up far past his knees, and boots with violet lace and bows. The one feature that really drew Raenef's attention about this boy was the huge black bow at his neck. It was adorable. Raenef needed to wear it at all costs.

Without thinking much about it, he started off toward them, crossing the street without bothering to check for traffic. Only when he had safely reached the other side did it occur to him that he might've been hit by a car.

"I need to be more careful." He noted to himself, and as far as he was concerned, had thus fulfilled the need for scolding. Letting his attention return back to the two boys, he started to look for them when a familiar scent hit him, and he recognized it immediately. Not a particular person or thing, no, but the general idea. It was demon scent, almost identical to his own. He looked around and found nothing remotely resembling a demon. He did, however, catch sight of the children, walking at a brisk pace, at least a hundred feet away. Raenef bounded after them, now more curious than ever. Had the demon scent come off of these two?

Ducking through a crowd of people that was gradually growing thicker and thicker, he followed them for blocks, never seeming to make much progress in getting closer to them. Only when the crowd seemed to part perfectly for him to see right through to them for a moment did he realize they were running now. He picked up his pace, too, feeling very relieved when they turned into an alley. He followed shortly after them, and relaxed a bit. It was empty.

He blinked.

"Empty." He repeated to himself out loud. He cupped his hands to his mouth and called after them. "Hey! Where'd you go? I just wanna wear your bow!"

"You can't have it!" protested a loud voice from just around the corner of yet another turn. Raenef recalled trailing this city a few times to get the feel for it, should he and his partners ever need a hasty retreat route. There had been a rather large cluster of buildings placed just so that by running around behind them, you could easily get lost, like a maze.

_That must be where we are._

The children appeared to be quietly arguing with each other now, and he took a step toward them to hear what about.

"It was an accident. He means to take my bow!"

"How would you like not to have a neck to wear it around? That can be arranged."

"You're mean, Ciel."

The conversation ended abruptly, and Raenef felt like he was hearing a duplication of the arguments he and his partners were always having. Except neither Train nor Creed had ever threatened him like that. He stood still, waiting a moment to be sure they were done talking.

"Um.. hello." He called to them, waving his hand a little, although he was unsure whether or not they could see him. There was a slight pause.

"Hello." The voice that had answered him was pleasant, but it seemed fake to Raenef. He disregarded that thought and tilted his head.

"Why are you hiding?"

"Why are you following us?" another voice countered, this one lower, and without a hint of false courtesy. In fact, there was no courtesy in it at all. This was more a demand than a question, and Raenef wasn't sure whether he should be offended or intimidated. He decided to refrain from showing either emotion, and answered peaceably.

"I want to wear the bow."

"You can't have the bow."

"I don't want to keep it. I just want to wear it for a second."

"You can't wear it, either."

Raenef frowned. That was kind of selfish, but he dismissed it. They were only children, after all.

"Can you come out from there? I didn't mean to frighten you."

The blue-haired boy stepped out immediately, straightening himself up and glaring furiously at Raenef.

"We were not frightened!"

.

The blond-haired boy followed after him, coming to rest by his side, and he tilted his head.

"We just wanted to make sure you were actually following us." He added. Raenef blinked.

"Oh.. I'm sorry about that. It's just… the bow. And also," he leaned a little closer to the two, sniffing at them before straightening up again. It was definitely them. "You two smell interesting."

The blue-haired boy looked disgusted, while the other giggled.

"I can get a little closer if you need a better smell." He invited with a grin, and it took Raenef a moment to understand his implication. He felt his skin crawl at the thought, his face growing hot. He shook his head violently.

"N-no! That's not what I meant at all!" he stammered, but it was clear by the looks on both of their faces that the comment wasn't one he was meant to take seriously. He took a moment to choke down the embarrassment and calm himself before continuing. "Um.. I'm Raenef. Who're you?"

The children exchanged amused looks.

"I am Ciel Phantomhive, head of the Phantomhive estate." The blue-haired boy introduced himself, his voice filled with all the dignity of a king.

"And my name is Alois." The blond boy declared, glancing over at Ciel as if to seek approval. The blue-haired boy shook his head, twirling his finger as if to tell him to keep going. "Oh, um.. Alois Trancy. Head of the Trancy estate." He amended, and that seemed to be enough for Ciel, who stared straight ahead without reacting now. Alois smiled.

"It's nice to meet you both." Raenef said politely.

"We'll see about that." Ciel murmured. "Raenef, why do you look so familiar?" he wondered aloud, taking Raenef off guard.

"Um.. I don't know.. I don't think we've met." He stuttered, straining to remember. The boy looked interesting, out of place, but definitely not familiar. A red flag raised in his mind, but he ignored it and stayed put for now, not seeing any logical reason to be alarmed.

"No, I'm sure I've seen you somewhere." Ciel insisted, and looked over at Alois. "Alois?"

The boy glanced over at Raenef and smiled impishly.

"Definitely. I've definitely seen him somewhere before."

Raenef ran through his mind, but these two never came up. Not that he knew of.

"I'm sorry, I don't-"

"Do you know of a Lady Ryans, heir to the Ryans estate? She'll have been from England. Deceased as of three months ago." Ciel pushed, pulling the details out of nowhere as if he'd carefully studied for and planned this, surprising Raenef. He was about to say no when the name struck him. Lydia Ryans. Age 32. Bribery. Political mudslinging and blackmail. She'd been a bother to Chronos. Raenef remembered her vividly now. He remembered her last night alive. He remembered seeing her die. He remembered Train shooting her through the heart.

His feet had started moving without his consent, a few tiny steps back at a time. The boys definitely noticed, though the movement had been miniscule. The retreat was showing on his face, in the suddenly cautious gleam of his eyes, and the two had picked up on it rather quickly.

"Don't be rude." Alois sulked, crossing his arms and pursing his lips. "We're talking." The two stared at him, and though there were frightful things that seemed to be lighting their eyes up like stars, they didn't make a move for him. It was the confidence with which they stayed so still that alarmed him more than anything. Here was the red flag again, a much stronger impulse now, and it made him turn his back on the two altogether, facing the direction from which he had come, and sprint. He'd have had more time to build up speed had two more unfamiliar forms not materialized behind him. Before he really had time to start making distance, he'd been forced to jerk to a halt and stare up at the two, both standing side to side and no more than six feet away. The situation seemed to be quickly building into something Raenef couldn't stand.

"Sebastian." Ciel growled behind him, sounding irritated. "You were to be right behind us. Where have you been?" Raenef found his eyes tracing over whoever happened to be speaking at the moment, a habit that often confused him as he tried to keep up with group conversations. As his eyes fell back on the set of figures, both at least a head taller than him and quite easily looming over him at the moment, even from their distance, one smirked and placed his hand where his heart would be. If any heartbeat were audible, anyway.

"My apologies, master. I'm here now." The same man said with a voice like satin. Maybe if satin had such a delightfully duplicable English accent. If his mind weren't occupied with panic at the moment, Raenef would have carefully noted every rolling of the words, every edge softened by the accent, and he would have brought it back and tried it out on Creed and Train until they got annoyed and banned him from watching BBC.

"Claude!" Alois cheered, and brushed past Raenef to skip around the other man, pulling lightly at the edges of his clothing and his fingertips. This one did not respond but to sigh deeply and cast a glance that Raenef would almost believe was longing at Ciel.

The circumstances were growing more confusing, and Raenef struggled to work out what exactly he should do. The now furious pulsing in his mind was driving him over the edge. This was alarming. He should have listened to his instincts sooner. Without any real plan, he turned back to Ciel, letting his attention fall from the two demons behind him, and took a step toward the boy.

"You know," Ciel murmured, tapping one finger lightly against his chin a few times. "I think I'm finally beginning to recall where I've seen you, Raenef." The demon lord didn't wait to hear any more from the boy, dreading what kind of persecution it was he was facing. He lurched toward the boy, and without any sort of conscious thought, tore past him, leaving the strangers behind and praying they wouldn't be able to keep up. Escapes were Raenef's strength, after all.

"Sebastian." The name, spoken by a child that was already several hundred feet behind him, barely reached Raenef's ears, and though he could maybe outrun them, the very demeanor of those two other demons had scared him to death. The thought of going hand-to-hand with either of them was terrifying- he'd never been much of a fighter, although he could do his share of blowing things up- and though he tried to calm himself with the thought that he hadn't actually heard any kind of order to give chase, that was quickly crushed by the sound of inhumanly fast footfall following after him.

He forced himself to push harder than he, in all reality, should, weaving through alleys with precise navigation. He found himself relieved by the thought that he still had his sense of direction. He knew exactly where he needed to go to get back to the road. Now he just had to make it that far. A few lefts, a long way straight, a right, another right, a sharp left, and there it was. A busy street had come into view at the end of the alley, like a prize awaiting a marathon runner. He pressed himself further, and, knowing for a fact that he'd managed to stay safely ahead of them so far, burst through the threshold onto the sidewalk with little thought given to traffic, be it vehicular or pedestrian. There was a muted cracking sound as he felt himself thrown back to the sidewalk, and landed on his back, scrambling around while he waited to regain his sight. Crap.. What speed must he have reached to have momentarily blinded himself with the impact?

It took him a second to even consider what it might have done to whatever civilian he'd just bashed his skull into. He jumped to his feet, ignoring the dizziness that nearly grounded him again when he did so. A few blinks restored a smeared canvas of vision to him, and though any normal stranger would have been impossible to make out through the blurriness, he was quite acquainted with this person, and their form was easily identifiable.

"Palmtree!" he cried, as if greeting an old friend, as he glomped the homunculus ferociously. Palmtree was still holding the right side of his face in one hand, glaring murderously at Raenef through his left eye as a red sort of static seemed to set his hand glowing. Raenef was pushed off almost immediately.

"What did you just call me?" the homunculus growled at Raenef, in the low, rough voice that had once been a plaything for Raenef to try and copy for his partners' entertainment. Palmtree threw a punch- And with such little warning. How rude.- and Raenef sidestepped it, ducking to the side and pausing for only half a second behind the homunculus.

"Palm. Tree." he enunciated carefully, and took off again, full speed. How long had that exchange taken, honestly? The two had been behind, but certainly not that far behind. He wasn't able to give the two of them much thought before the sound of air parting just behind him made him look back over his shoulder, and he was horrified to see Palmtree's arms, growing green and scaly, expanding in length and coming at him at alarming speeds. Trying his best not to slow down anymore, Raenef felt the needle in his hand before he saw it, or was even consciously aware of its existence. It left his hand with even less warning, and the sound of a surprised yelp was coupled with sudden quiet.

* * *

><p>Envy knew he would never live down the taunting of his brothers if the White Cat got away now. Perhaps if Envy had pretended to be too shocked to give chase. Maybe if he had just watched him run away. But now there was a needle. It hadn't done any real damage, just a startling development that Envy hadn't been prepared for, and, forgetting for a second the urgency of the task at hand, he had stopped to investigate the tiny stabbing he had felt in his hand. He could hear it already, the jeers from his so-called "partners". Envy let the kitty go because he had to dress his flesh wound.<p>

The embarrassing moment had passed, and though he'd resumed chasing the boy, his heart sank as he watched him turn a corner. The one thing he remembered, the one thing he couldn't afford to believe now. The White Cat is next to useless in a fight, but I'll be damned if you can lose sight of him and then find him again. Envy turned the corner, and found, much to his dismay, that his nervous foreshadowing had come to fruition. The White Cat was nowhere to be found.

* * *

><p><em>I'm sorry, I feel as though I'm messing up the story each time I add things like this, so please forgive me. This is how I choose to introduce the characters from Black Butler~ Guess whose team they're on? Anyway, here this is. I hope you like it. Please review~<em>

_MT_


	19. The Army Expands

Creed stared at Raenef, entirely too confused for his own comfort. They'd been looking for him for a little over half an hour when he'd reappeared, a hyperventilating heap of panic and confusion. He'd attempted to recap the story of his little adventure, but it was impossible to understand anything he said. It all sounded like panting and random sound effects, with only a few intelligible words and phrases coming through. His grand finale had been falling to the ground and rolling onto his back to catch his breath. All Creed had caught was "British", "short shorts", "big bow", and "palmtree." He wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Calm down and speak cohesively." Train commanded, crouching down next to the boy. Raenef swallowed and blinked at him, taking a moment to calm his erratic breathing before nodding and starting again.

"I was behind all of you and there were these two kids, right? And one of them had a really big bow- and I really wanted to wear it, but he wouldn't let me.- and they both smelled like demons so I followed them and they ran and I ran and then we were alone and they were British. British? Maybe English. I'm not sure if there's a difference. They were either British or English. Maybe both."

He took a moment to catch his breath again and looked up at Creed.

"Creed, are British and English the same thing?"

Creed shrugged.

"We've established that they're either British or English. Or both. Cut to the chase."

"Right.." Raenef continued. "Well, we were alone, like I said, and they were being all like 'Have I seen you somewhere before?' and I told them no but they said they did and then! Then they were asking me about Lydia Ryans. You remember her?" His question was met with a shocked silence. Train and Creed would remember. They never forgot their targets. He let it slip and carried on. "Well, when they started asking about Lydia Ryans, I ran ran ran, well I tried to, anyway, but there were some guys there and they were demons. That's why Ciel and Alois smelled like demons, I think, and they were butlers. Not Ciel and Alois. They're princes or something. But the demons, they were butlers. And they were very threatening, mind you, I'm not a fraidy cat. I don't just randomly start running away from butlers but these two. They were scary! So then I ran ran ran and when I was running I ran right into Palmtree and he tried to hit me but he missed and I ran some more and then his arm got really long and started chasing me around and I shoved a needle in his hand and he went away for a while so I ran and got up on the roof and ran some more and then I found you and now I'm here the end."

He took another deep breath at the end and sat still, smiling absently up at his audience. Everyone stared back, and Creed could practically hear the wheels turning in their heads as they attempted to process his story.

"Um." he broke the silence, and they all seemed startled by the sudden sound. "Question."

Raenef tilted his head.

"Yeah?"

"What about short shorts, then?"

"Alois was wearing short shorts." Raenef responded.

"Who's Alois?"

"One of the British… English… one of the Bringlish kids."

"Ah. And Ciel is the other?"

"Mhm."

"I see." Creed could feel the electric glares of the group around him. It seemed he was the one they were counting on to ask the important questions. He glanced around at them and sighed.

"I'm not a PI, kids. Ask your own questions."

The glares continued for a moment before anyone did anything productive.

"You were attacked." Train said, and Raenef nodded lightly.

"But I got away!" he cheered, raising his hands above his head and swaying around to emphasize his excitement.

"Do you remember seeing those two anywhere before? Do you have full names, maybe? What were the names of the demons that were chasing you?" Train interrogated him, and Raenef's eyes grew wider with each question.

"Um… I don't remember seeing them ever before.. Their full names were Ciel Funtomide and Alois Trancy. They're the heads of their states." Raenef proclaimed matter-of-factly. "And the demon's names were Sebastian and Claude."

Train raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Funtomide? What the hell kind of name is that?"

"It's Ciel's name."

"Right. Fine. Heads of their states or whatever, last names Funtomide and Trancy. I have no idea what any of this is."

* * *

><p>Ciel sat in a stiff-backed chair facing an empty desk. Though he'd intended to have Sebastian trail the White Cat back to the others, the demon had returned shortly after departing with troublesome news. Somehow, he'd lost the Cat. He knew he should be impressed, though whether it should be by the criminal's escape artist abilities, or the level of his cowardice, Ciel wasn't sure. Not wanting to focus too heavily on the idea that Sebastian could, in fact, be escaped, he turned his attention to his surroundings. A barren office without even the slightest touch of humanity. No family photos, as Ciel had seen many times before, no bookcases full of dusty volumes, no paintings. He shifted around in the uncomfortable chair and glared up at Sebastian, who stood still behind him. The demon glanced down at him and smiled slightly.<p>

"Something troubling you, Master?" he asked casually, as if he'd already forgotten his failure. Ciel looked down at the wooden desk in front of him. He would let it go for now for the sake of being productive.

"That man.. The transvestite with the green hair. The one the White Cat called Palmtree. What is he?"

Sebastian glanced over at Claude, who was sitting in the chair next to Ciel with Alois in his lap. The other demon did not respond. Sebastian looked back to his master.

"We think he's a Homunculus." he replied. Ciel raised an eyebrow.

"Explain."

"Homunculi are created when alchemists attempt human alchemy. A frivolous triviality, I think. As if a single human life is really that important." he shrugged. "But when a human tries, a part of their being is taken. I'm not entirely sure how all of it falls into place, but a Homunculus is the result. They're supposed to be immortal, but that's not entirely true. If you kill them a few times too many they stay dead. We saw him heal a wounded hand with red electricity, which is what tells us he's a Homunculus."

Ciel stared straight ahead as he listened, chewing gently on the tip of his tongue. He blinked and nodded, considering this information.

"I'll be wanting to test your theory about their immortality."

"Of course."

"I'm rather in the mood for cookies." Alois whined, interrupting the otherwise serious conversation. Claude said nothing.

"I want cookies, Claude."

Ciel glanced over at the two, and immediately wished he hadn't, given the suggestive manner in which Alois was now sitting on Claude. Ciel blushed as he turned his head to stare at the wall to his right instead.

"Sebastian, go and fetch Alois something sweet."

"Cookies, Ciel."

Ciel grit his teeth.

"Cookies, Sebastian."

The demon smiled his overly-pleasant smile and dipped his head.

"I shall be only a moment, Master."

Ciel turned his head to watch him go in time to see a man just a bit shorter then Sebastian pass by him. The man, a black-haired guy that didn't appear much older than his twenties, paused to watch as Sebastian offered him a courteous bow before leaving. He stared at the door for a long moment, looking a bit confused, then shook his head and strode in to take a seat at the desk.

Ciel saw a woman slip in and position herself just by the door, a blond lady in a military uniform, with a holstered gun hanging from her hip.

"Hello. My name is Roy Mustang." the man at the desk spoke, drawing Ciel's attention to him instead. He did not introduce himself- the Homunculus had probably already reiterated his name while reporting to the man.

"We were asked to come here in diplomacy. Are you licensed to conduct diplomatic relations?" Ciel demanded, cutting straight to the chase. He crossed his legs and folded his hands on his knees. The man seemed shocked into silence for a moment, his eyes wide and his lips moving to make words that wouldn't form.

"Uh.. yes.. Well.. Um.." he looked to the woman at the door for help. Ciel wouldn't take away from his own game by averting his eyes from his target, but given the expressions on Mustang's face, the woman was of little use. He turned his gaze on Ciel again and coughed.

"How old did you say you are?"

"I didn't."

Mustang paused for another second.

"How old are you?"

"Twelve years of age. I assume you're about the same?"

There was a stifled giggle from Alois' direction, but, to Ciel's surprise, Mustang kept a straight face.

"If only." he said with an easy-going chuckle, and Ciel found himself a bit irritated. The man smiled easily now, as if he'd somehow already adjusted to Ciel's attitude. He leaned his head into his hands and blinked.

"So we noticed that you're interested in the White Cat. Care to explain?" he said invitingly. Ciel straightened up a bit.

"Our business is none of your concern."

Mustang kept his expression calm this time, and didn't miss a beat.

"Actually, it's very much my concern. A quick check over your names shows that neither of you has a passport. You can't legally be here." Mustang countered. He tilted his head. "Now.. are you sure you wouldn't like to talk to me about this?"

Ciel thought about it for a moment before deciding that his pride wasn't worth the bother it would be to chase down the Cats while being pursued by Amestrian authorities. He glared at the man for a moment, then sighed and shrugged.

"Fair enough. We're here by our Queen's request. The Cats are responsible for the assassination of several nobles directly connected with the Queen, and are to be brought back to go on trial for their crimes." he explained solemnly. Mustang listened carefully, and when Ciel was done speaking, nodded slowly.

"I see. I guess that makes sense." he looked Ciel and Alois over and smiled piteously. "For the most part, anyway."

"Will you and yours be an impediment to our goal?"

Mustang blinked.

"These are dangerous criminals. While I don't want to get in your way, I'd really hate to hear you two got hurt running around the streets of Amestris on a wild assassin chase."

Ciel snorted.

"Dangerous! The White Cat was a mess, tripping all over himself just to wear Alois' bow. He ran away like a coward. I think we'll be fine."

Mustang sighed, looking almost sad.

"I know he seems ditzy, but you lose the moment you underestimate your opponent."

"He looks like a girl." Alois interjected helpfully. Mustang glanced over at him for a second, then turned back to Ciel.

"And on that note," he transitioned loudly. "I'll take care of the passports to get you two back home."

"Excuse me?" Ciel narrowed his eye, clenching his fists. Mustang yawned rudely, as if to prove the subject at hand was no longer of any import. Ciel stood up now, placing his hands on the desk and leaning closer to Mustang. "We're not going anywhere until we've completed our task."

Mustang glanced up at him from his chair, looking bored.

"That's not really your choice. You're not in your country anymore." he leaned back nonchalantly. "Unfortunate as it is, I can't be responsible for having let two kids run off alone after a bunch of assassins on my authority." By the time he'd finished this sentence, Ciel was practically radiating bad intentions.

"Then we'll work with you." he hissed through his teeth.

Mustang perked up, his face lighting as if it were the best idea he'd heard in a long time. He leaned toward Ciel, resting his elbows on the desk, his head lain in his hands.

"Work with us? Now there's an idea."


	20. Hidden Motives

Mustang glanced back through the window at the top of Fuhrer Bradley's door. He wasn't sure if he'd expected them to be gone, or perhaps burning and pillaging the lobby, but he found himself relieved to see Ciel and Alois sitting exactly where he'd left them, with their overly-obedient butlers standing beside them.

Sebastian and Claude, as he had learned. The two always appeared to be smirking, and were constantly whispering among themselves, or else to their respective masters. Mustang didn't trust them.

"Why exactly are they here?" Fuhrer Bradley dragged Mustang's attention back to the conversation. He stood still, not daring to take a seat unless invited to do so, and feeling his back locking up as he tried desperately to stand as straight as he could.

"They were ordered to capture the Cats and bring them back with them for trial."

Fuhrer Bradley sighed tiredly, twitching his head to crack his neck.

"I meant my lobby. Why are they in my lobby?"

Mustang blinked, taken off guard.

"I thought you would want to see them."

"Why would you think that?" Mustang wasn't sure he could respond to that if the answer wasn't implied. Fuhrer Bradley didn't give him much time to reply, anyway. "What I'd really like to know is how they got into my country."

The Fuhrer's gaze had been pretty general up until now, flitting lazily around the room, but now it focused in on Mustang and held him, and he felt himself shrinking under the stare.

"Well.. I couldn't really answer that. I'm not in charge of border control.." he muttered, fixing his eyes on the floor to avoid the harsh glare. There was a moment of silence.

"Right." Fuhrer Bradley allowed. "That's true. Not your job. Well. I'll just need to find whoever is in charge of that and see that they're severely punished." The Fuhrer spoke now with an easy grin, and that made Mustang about ten times more uncomfortable. He fidgeted with his fingers while he waited for the proper moment to guide the conversation back to the noble boys.

"Now. Those two." Fuhrer Bradley motioned to them through the window, fixing the derailment for Mustang. "You want to work with them? What for?"

Mustang looked up again, relaxing a bit. This was a question he could answer.

"They said that the Queen personally requested their help. They're connected to her somehow. I think we could use this opportunity in any number of ways." he declared, proud of himself for having thought of it.

Fuhrer Bradley stared at his desk now, appearing deep in thought.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Though relations with England are fairly positive right now. The last thing we need is to damage that thin line of decency." Mustang felt his shoulders lower a bit, disappointed. "You'll need to be discreet. I want information on the internal state of their country. Also, try to stay on their good side. It helps to have friendly connections."

Mustang allowed himself a touch of the pride he'd nearly surrendered a moment ago. His idea was coming through.

"So you'll allow me to work with them?"

The Fuhrer paused for another moment.

"What do they want?"

Mustang felt his heart lurch.

"Excuse me?"

"They're children. They don't work with someone and not expect anything in return. What are they asking for? Money?"

Though he'd known this would come up, Mustang had hoped to avoid it. He swallowed and brought his gaze back to the floor.

"They want to take the Cats back with them."

"No."

Mustang blinked.

"No, sir?"

"They cannot take the Cats. I'm telling you now that they will stay in Amestris. They will be used to trace back to the foundation of Chronos."

"I thought you might have a problem with this.. If I may make a suggestion..?"

"Let's hear it." Fuhrer Bradley sat back in his chair and put on his best attentive listener face.

Mustang took in a deep breath, taking a moment to mentally debate whether he really wanted to say this. He decided that he did.

"The two entered Amestris illegally. I suggest we let them assist, then grant them amnesty for being illegal aliens so long as they agree to leave without the Cats. It's not something they could refuse- we could choose to arrest them on those charges, meaning that the Cats would be ours anyway."

When he was done, he stood silently, hoping to God for a positive reception of his idea. Bradley stared at him with dull eyes for a moment, then smirked.

"How completely under-handed." He commented, and Mustang felt his face grow hot at the remark. He'd known it would be wrong to use Ciel and Alois, but he'd thought the Fuhrer would be willing if only to recapture the Cats.. "I like it. I'm approving your plan." Mustang looked up, startled. The Fuhrer appeared completely serious.

"Thank you, sir." Mustang mumbled, awestruck at how simple he'd made it.

The Fuhrer smiled and got to his feet, stretching his limbs and pacing back to the huge window at the back of his office which overlooked the entirety of Amestris. It was quiet for a long moment, and Mustang wondered if Bradley had merely forgotten to dismiss him. He was considering making some sort of sound to remind Bradley that he was still in the room, but just as the thought came to mind, he spoke.

"The Cats are dangerous." Bradley said suddenly, giving Mustang the feeling that he was speaking in turn in the middle of a full conversation going on in his head. "I don't want them wandering the streets of Amestris. You will recapture them, and you will keep them. Use the English children as you must. They should know better than to come into my country and try to take from me."

* * *

><p>Ed sat quietly in the lobby, watching the two kids stubbornly. He had absolutely convinced himself they'd try to pull something. They were just a couple feet away from the Fuhrer, after all. However, after twenty minutes of watching Alois nibble at the edges of a cookie, nothing too alarming had happened, and Ed was becoming bored. From where he sat, Ed could just barely see through the window into the Fuhrer's office. Mustang was with him now, reporting, although it was taking much longer than it should.<p>

Edward seethed quietly to himself.

_What the hell's taking him so long?_

He'd given faster reports in his sleep. He wanted to be out looking for the Cats right now, not babysitting two spoiled brats and their butlers. Bored as he was, he'd almost begun to doze off when the butler that had introduced himself as Sebastian leaned down and began whispering fervently in Ciel's ear. The boy stared straight ahead as if he didn't notice, but every few seconds, he'd react to something being said to him. A nod here, a glare at Mustang, a narrowed eye. Ed watched through one half open eye, barely interested. Butler gossip. How fun.

The butler finished his whispering and straightened up again, leaving Ciel with a look that seemed to perfectly blend rage and amusement in a way that was almost scary. Ed wondered if he should be alarmed, but Ciel closed his eye and laid his head back, appearing to have dropped whatever was said to him. After a few more minutes, it appeared he'd fallen asleep, and once again, Ed felt like an idiot for being so suspicious of them. Children and their servants. Honestly, what was the worst thing they could be whispering?

He stiffened.

_They'd better not be calling me short._

He'd hardly had time to think of all the things they could be calling him- One-third Metal Alchemist being the first to occur to him- when Ciel opened his eye again, leaning over toward Alois, who leaned toward him in turn, smiling eagerly. The two began whispering among themselves as well, and Ed watched, now seeing more reason to be alarmed.

The responses Alois gave were much less subtle than Ciel's. A loud giggle, an outraged gasp, followed by a long string of profanities that Ed couldn't believe were coming out of the mouth of someone who acted like he did. Most of them seemed to be aimed at Mustang, though Ed couldn't guess why. Was this what kids did? Just sat and raged about whoever wasn't in the room at the moment?

The profanities paused as they both turned their heads to watch Mustang emerge from the office, closing the door quietly behind him. He sighed heavily and started for the elevator.

"Let's go, everyone. We've got some Cats to catch."

* * *

><p><em>I'm a horrible person. ;~; I'm sorry this took so long. I've been really busy with schoolwork, and lacking any inspiration whatsoever whenever I'm not. Please forgive. I hope you all haven't lost interest.<em>

_Anyway, here's your new chapter. Please enjoy. ^-^'_

_Oh, and to Loki the Evil Goddess…. I've watched a bit of Shugo Chara now, so thanks for that idea. I know who Ikuto is, and if you like, I think I will add him in. x3_

_MT_


	21. Safety Precautions

"Our first task is ensuring they can't run away."

* * *

><p>Mustang glared at the boy who was now shamelessly correcting not only the posture but the overall strategy of his entire unit. He knew what Fuhrer Bradley's request had been, but he wasn't sure anymore if he could stand the little snob that long. The only up-side to any of this was the reassurance that he would have no problem double-crossing the kid. At this point, he was asking for it.<p>

"You there! Hold your gun properly. You're likely to put a hole in your own foot!"

"Who let this kid in our perimeter unit? Go find ya mum, ole chap!"

Mustang winced at the jeering tone and fake accent. This was going to become a civil war before long. The other soldiers had taken up the joke, their voices building into a chaotic humming that was quickly becoming obnoxious.

"Bloody ell! I think I shot me toe! Ole boy was spot-on, wasn't he, _Reginald?"_

"Ay, you all want to come over to me ouse later on and have tea and crumpets?"

"I say, old beans, I need the loo!"

"I'm so bloody freakin' English!"

Mustang stared hopelessly at his mess of mocking soldiers, and found himself amazed at how controlled Ciel was. He stood quietly at the center with Alois by his side, chin held high as he seemed to stare down an entire half of the group. If Mustang didn't personally know Pride, he could mistake the English boy for him.

"I'm rah thar in the mood for some fish and chips and-"

"All of you shut up!" Olivier cut in and the group fell silent. She glared them all into the ground then turned and snarled viciously at Mustang. "Keep your boys under control!"

Without waiting for a reply, she stalked off, leaving Mustang feeling embarassed and a little bit pissed off. He should have been the one stepping in and reigning his men in. That was just insulting. What a disgrace.

Once he felt he'd sufficiently internally scolded himself, he cleared his throat and looked up to meet the startled eyes of his soldiers.

"Well.. Moving right along." he said. He would probably regret not reprimanding them later, but for now, he wanted to get right to the point. "You all will be constantly patrolling the Amestrian borders. No one is to get through without a passport.." He nodded in Ciel's general direction. "_I mean it this time."_

Ciel smirked at him while his soldiers laughed uneasily. They were very fortunate Mustang had no way of finding out who it was that had allowed the Queen's pets into Amestris without proper paperwork.

"Anyone who matches any of the given descriptions is to be taken aside, photographed, and held until a negative or positive ID is confirmed. You will switch shifts at four o'clock precisely. Be here again at exactly this time again tomorrow to relieve your replacements of duty. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir!" his men responded in unison, saluting. He smiled lightly. That was much better.

* * *

><p>"There's next to nothing on either of them." Creed reported unhappily. The lack of relevant information meant they would have to take everything at face value. He was disappointed. They'd finally found a public library that wouldn't turn them away on the grounds that they looked like they'd come strictly to cause problems, and Creed had hoped that their computers would be his saving grace. That wasn't working out. Train leaned over him while he tapped away at the keys, scowling.<p>

"Next to nothing? What is there?"

Creed blinked.

"You're breathing on my neck."

There was a pause and a minor shifting behind him. Suddenly, a blast of warm air filled his ear.

"Is this better?"

He jumped, nearly knocking over his chair. He whipped around to look at Train, who met his gaze casually.

"Act your age, Train." Creed said, smirking.

"I'm twenty-three. I'm still at my 'fuck everything, I'm young' stage."

Creed sighed, correcting his chair and smiling as he sat down.

"Believe me, I know."

"What is there?"

Creed turned slowly back to the screen.

"Well.. On Alois Trancy, I gather that he's a pretty young kid. No pictures available, but we can just go off of Rae's description. I got a very fun mental image from that. Anyway, he was adopted by the head of the Trancy estate- a pedophile, oh, I just _love_ pedophiles-"

"A pedophile?"

Train frowned.

"He collected children like glass dolls. I'd say he'd make a great vacation kill- wouldn't that be fun? Train?- but anyway, he's already dead. He died just a few months after our Trancy boy joined his family and took his name in the will."

He ran his finger along the nape of his own neck to emphasize his point. Train blinked. Was that suspicious? Oh hell yes. The boy was suspicious now. This would be fun.

"Alright.. Go on."

"There's nothing on any "Funtomide". However, in the recommendations for different spellings, I found a Phantomhive who matches Raenef's description pretty well. _That guy _is a little younger than the Trancy kid. His parents were killed in a _tragic_ fire, he lives alone in their rebuilt manor and runs a very successful toy company out in England, which I'm pretty sure isn't legal since he's technically not even a teenager yet, but I don't see any reason why either would be after any of us anyway. Let alone Raenef."

"They knew about Lydia Ryans. They came here looking for us. There has to be a reason."

"Maybe they were friends of hers? Distant relatives...? Maybe they want to be avengers."

There was a sarcastic kind of condesendence in his voice.

"Are you asking me?"

"No. Just saying. We're not going to find anything new from here. It just isn't there."

"Can we get a book while we're here?" Raenef interrupted, making them both jump. Neither had heard him coming. Creed turned to look at him.

"You'll never return it."

"You'll never read it." Train amended, snorting. "You only want it just to have it."

Raenef pouted.

"Nuh uh. It's a cat book, see?" he held up the book in question. _Feline Friends: Owner's Guide.. _It was in fact a cat book. "I want to learn how to properly treat Cheshire."

Train sighed, pushing his bangs up with a heavy hand.

"Cheshire isn't a real cat. That book won't help."

"He is so. I think it might."

"It probably won't, Rae."

"But it might. Can't we get it?"

"Read it while we're here."

Raenef pursed his lips, pouting more deeply. Creed thought he could hear him whimpering.

"I can't read this whole thing in one sitting." he argued.

"Then get it. Go falsify an address or something and get a library card." Train relented, and Raenef happily complied. Train turned back to Creed, all business again. He was getting better at recovering from those conversations.

"So what are we gonna do about these two? They might just be kids, but they're obviously something. Little kids don't just show up and try to hunt down assassins. It doesn't work that way."

"Train."

"What?"

"Are you kidding?"

Train paused, blinking, and swore under his breath.

"That doesn't count. I'm an outlier. Most little kids don't go hunting assassins."

Creed's phone rang and he answered it immediately, ignoring Train's annoyed glare.

"What is it?" It wasn't exactly a warm greeting, but he wasn't meant to be friendly.

"The entire outside perimeter of the city is under heavy guard."

"What? What do you mean?"

Erutis grunted irritably on the other line.

"I mean exactly what I said. There are guards at every available exit. There are patrols everywhere. They mean business."

Creed took in a breath quickly. He needed to decide right now if this was an appropriate situation for him to be excited in. It wasn't a matter of just escaping anymore. That was going to be much more complicated now. They could afford theatrics, if things were going to play out like this. They could be dramatic. He glanced over at Train through the corner of his eye, imagining how fantastic it would be to see him at the center of the scene again. They'd been playing it a bit too safe for a while now.

"So what do you think?"

She paused, and Creed couldn't help but think maybe she was one for dramatics as well.

"I think we're trapped in this god damn city."

* * *

><p><em>Firstly, no matter how late it is, I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year. How's 2014 coming along for you all so far?<em>

_This has taken a long while, and I'm sorry about that. However, as promised, I have not only added this chapter, but rewritten all prior chapters. I think you'll find that the writing style is considerably more attractive, more detailed. I've eliminated a few factors and added a few. With any luck, I've accomplished one of my many goals with these chapters, which would be putting the characters more... Well.. in character. _

_I'm well aware that this chapter accomplished very little in the way of progressing the storyline, and I'm sorry, but I wrote it in half an hour. I just finished with all the other chapters and I got really excited for finishing my work for a while, so I got this one done. Again, I'm really sorry. The next one will do shit. I promise. I'll try to be more active with this story from here on out. Thank you for being patient with me, and please review._

_MT_


	22. Power in Numbers

The short walk to the waiting cab was silent in Sven's anticipation, but the moment the door closed, it dawned on him how impossible this was going to be.

"I don't even know where to start!" he shouted suddenly, and both Eve and the driver jumped. He paused in his whining for a second to be sure he wasn't about to cause his and the driver's untimely death- Eve would probably be fine- by causing an accident, and quieted down. "Why did we take this job?"

Eve shrugged, looking indifferent as always.

"You need the money for cigarettes."

He blinked, glancing over at her.

"Yeah... By the way, Eve, we need to talk about that."

"Cigarettes are unhealthy and cause lung cancer. I will not partake in them."

There was a pause.

"Er.. good. Good talk."

She didn't respond. He looked forward, flipping hopelessly through the copied files he'd been given. What kind of military officials had to call on a freelance detective for help anyway? He'd known the Cats he was pursuing had escaped from police custody on more than one occasion, but only now was it sinking in that he may be in over his head.

"We should have stuck with chasing down that petty thief back in Osaka."

"Why? Isn't this more important?"

Sven glanced over at her in irritation. She was right, of course, but the fact that she was so calm while he was worrying about how to feed the two of them after they failed this job was offputting.

"It's not going to be easy, E-"

"People have died."

Her voice was low, level. Sven stared at her for a second, then swallowed his protests.

"Yeah. They have." He laughed bitterly as he pulled out a few pages and looked over them fruitlessly for the third time. "I raised you right."

As the car lurched forward, pulling smoothly into traffic, he preoccupied himself with questions. What had brought the two into the room to save the Cats? What inferences could he draw about the Cats and their capabilities? Would they have more allies waiting for them? Would they even still be in Amestria?

He still hadn't found a pliable answer for any of these questions by the time they reached the hotel the alchemists had been kind enough to put he and Eve up in for the time they were working on the case. After the two checked in, they mostly sat in silence in the room.

Sven looked over the files with a growing sense of hopelessness. Eve read quietly in the corner. She glanced up only when she heard him growl frustratedly to himself.

"Do you need help, Sven?"

He stopped, chewing on the tip of his tongue.

"I think we're going to end up having to just sweep the city and hope they haven't gotten out yet."

"The alchemists have set up a perimeter. If they didn't get out within the first hour of running off, they won't have gotten out at all."

"But why would they have stayed?"

Eve shrugged.

"Wishful thinking. Do you want to search for them now?"

Sven sighed dramatically, standing up. He pulled the carton of cigarettes from his pocket, opening it and staring longingly at the contents. Three cigarettes. He really wanted one now, but he needed to hold off until he could get more. He was sure he would need it much more later anyway.

"Do you want to go now?" Eve repeated, eyes fixed expectantly on him. Sven shut the carton and replaced it in his pocket with a sigh.

"No." he groaned, moving to the corner and picking up his atache case. "But let's go."

* * *

><p>The streets were cracked here. This was the first note he made. Further inspection of this part of town revealed that it was fairly neglected. There were vacant buildings, crumbling in on themselves and encased in coffins of grafitti and tangles of ivy. The severest of the impovershed had been pushed to these streets and now littered the sidewalks in small clusters of hopelessness. Broken windows and signs amended in spraypaint to meet the standards of rebellious teenagers. Definitely no new renovations for the past several years. No attention paid whatsoever.<p>

Train paced the sidewalk, dodging the forms of sleeping- maybe drunk?- men. He scanned his surroundings cautiously as he went, avoiding getting too close to anyone lest they be hidden alchemists. He hated to seem so fearful. He hated being nervous, but he had to get back to Creed and the others. He couldn't leave them wondering where he'd gone.

He was supposed to be finding something for them to eat. He'd been more than a little hesitant to be so open as to walk into some place and try to buy anything, but he didn't know any other way- aside maybe from asking Raenef to take something, but the last thing he needed was the demon being caught and the police being alerted. He'd been the one to volunteer, cynical of all of Raenef's friends and unwilling to believe that even the knight was capable of the stealth that was necessary in their situation.

He'd come here only because it seemed to have been mostly abandoned by the Amestrian officials, but now he was worried there were no stores here that were still intact and in business. He glanced around again, sighing to himself. This was stupid. Their main concern should be getting out, not stuffing their faces. This was only the beginning of the problems he knew would come if they stayed in their large group. With Train at the helm, the Cats had been fairly productive. Taking into account the wants of his two partners, he'd been able to compromise and serve them all. Now he had several whiny mouths to feed, and each one thought they were the most important in the group. Not to mention their overwhelming tendency to tagteam he and Creed. He hated being overruled.

He was beginning to lose hope and considering wandering straight back into the more occupied blocks of Amestria when he came across a rather conveniently placed sandwich shop. He glared for a moment at the sign- S per S bs; someone had apparently found a better use for the u's- and walked in. He looked over the inside of the store and established that he was presently secure before approaching the counter. There were only two groups ahead of him, but he was still worried he'd be standing in one place for far too long.

He took his place behind a young blond girl and an older guy in a white suit with oddly colored- teal? Was that artifical?- hair. He quietly hoped that was his daughter and not his date. He smirked to himself. That was a stupid question. A date in this rathole? Hell no.

The man was talking to her in a low voice, questioning her as to what she wanted on her sandwich. The girl's voice was monotonous, neutral and a little eerie. She seemed to be dodging the question, frequently bringing it back to what he thought sounded good. Eventually he agreed to order for her, and she took immediately to looking over the store around her with a vague sense of interest. Her eye fell on Train for a second, started to move on, then shot back to meet his gaze. She turned full-frontal to face him, eyes wide suddenly.

"You." she said quietly.

Train took a step back, narrowing his eyes. Surely not? In this part of town? This young of a girl? He supposed it wasn't that hard to believe. That Ed kid couldn't have been older than sixteen. The alchemists weren't above enlisting children into their ranks. Then again, he had no room to talk. Raenef, after all..

"Train Heartnet." she said, cutting off his speculation. _Shit._

He took another step back, retreating, as the guy behind her whipped around to look at him. The guys eyes got wider than should really be possible as he reached for the case next to him. Before anything could be done, Train had drawn his Hades and aimed it directly at the girls head, though he hoped with every fiber of his being that he could avoid harming her. The man behind the counter and the group currently ordering gasped all together, each hitting the floor in a quick progression, and Train suddenly felt he'd been left alone with these two.

He'd turned his attention to the sounds of frightened gasps for a moment, but, looking back at the girl, was surprised to find that she hadn't reacted at all to having a gun aimed at her head. While the man behind her had immediately raised his hands in surrender, albeit with several profanities that summed up to "coward", she was perfectly calm as she raised her hands tentatively to meet his gun. Train watched her with suspicion, teeth grinding. He held the gun steady as her hands encircled the barrel, confident that he could pull the trigger before she could take it if he had to. Instead, she held onto it gently and sniffed.

"You smell like blood." she said, her voice so quiet that he thought he should probably be straining to hear her. It was amazing how calm these situations always appeared, that he could always hear the whispers of the people around him. Train recoiled at her words, taking another step back and pulling his gun from her grip. He held it up still, but was sure at this point that he wouldn't be able to shoot her. He'd have to run for it.

"Years of murdering people for a living are bound to have that effect." he said, his voice strained. The girl met his eyes and blinked.

"That was your choice."

There was a pause. The room felt like it was jolting with tension.

"You're right."

The guy behind Eve looked a bit surprised. Train looked up at him for only a moment, assured that he wouldn't make a move if the gun was aimed at the girl.

"You're alchemists?"

The girl blinked again.

"We're sweepers."

Train felt his eyes widen and bit back on the profanity he wanted to spit. This was fucking insulting. They were sending hired hands to capture them. How easy did they think this would be?

"Hm."

He lowered the gun slowly, locking eyes with the girl as he did.

"Good to know."

He took another step away.

"I'm going now."

"We can't let you go."

Train froze.

"You can't stop me."

"We can."

The man behind her finally spoke up now.

"Wait, where are your partners?"

Train looked over at him, smirking. That's right. He had something over him.

"They're hidden. Safe. They've regrouped."

"Regrouped?"

_Oh yes. They're useless otherwise, but Raenef's groupies can still be of service to us._

"Yeah. They met up with the rest of our unit."

"There's only three in your unit."

"That you know of."

"The two that broke you out? I'm not worried about them."

"They're only in training. Don't be a dick." Train lied through his teeth and hoped he could sell it. "The rest are prepared for this. There will be losses if they have to come get me again, and I don't mean on our side."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"You're pretty outgunned, you know."

"I don't need more guns. I'm the best for miles."

"You're just a cocky teenager. You're bluffing."

"I'm twenty-three."

"You're a cocky young adult and you're bluffing. Why don't you just come quiet-"

"Train!"

Three sets of eyes flashed to meet those of the young demon as he sprinted in through the doorway and attacked Train's shoulders, clinging to him and peering around him at the sweepers.

"Who're they?"

"Rae, what are you- - are you here alone?" Train couldn't disguise the disgust in his voice. All of those people and he'd still managed to run off on his own? He was either better than Train had thought or they were all daft. Before Raenef could answer, the rest of their group had let themselves into the sandwich shop.

"What the hell?" he complained loudly.

"Cheshire did some surveillance for us. He said the Amestrians had started sweeping the streets. Raenef wanted to come back you up in case they found you and none of us were going to be able to stop him, so we came with him instead."

Creed. Train had a feeling he'd avoided a lot of sarcastic bullshit by getting his answer from him rather than letting one of Raenef's friends answer.

"Oh. Well, good timing. Great timing." he said, turning back to the girl and the man, who had retreated a few steps and were watching the group in anticipation. "I was just about to get into it with these two, but I guess there won't be a problem now?"

The girl didn't respond but to glare at Train. The guy was a little more active.

"No, I guess not." he responded with a personable smile that was obviously meant to convince the assassins not to take him out. Train's little posse had grouped around him. He had to admit that as long as they all kept a straight face, they did pass for a threat.

"Good. Then we're leaving."

He turned and started to go, followed by Creed and Raenef, but was stopped by a sudden outburst of shrieks from behind him. He wheeled around to find Eclipse standing with his palm out, lighting up with dark light, just like Raenef's dark arrow. He'd aimed for the pedestrians on the floor.

Raenef crossed the floor in a single bound, latching onto Eclipse and trying to push him away from the group.

"Stop it! We're going!"

"We can't leave witnesses, Master Raenef."

"Yes we can! They already know what we look like!"

"They don't know where we are."

"I don't care! You can't kill innocents."

By now, the group had clambered to it's feet and fled in all directions, each leaving the others to face the threat alone. The only two who stayed in place were the sweepers, who watched the others go with concern. Though he looked furious, Eclipse didn't lash out, and by the time the people had abandoned the building, he'd lowered his palm and turned to face Train.

"You're an assassin. You know better, surely. If he won't listen to me, then you reason with him."

Train met his eyes with a sinister glare and shook his head grimly.

"We don't kill innocents. Never. You're despicable."

The demon visibly flinched at the last word. He hissed, pointing a clawed finger in the general direction of the sweepers.

"And what about them? They're combatants. If you leave them be, they'll only come back in larger numbers."

Train took a moment to regard the two coolly.

"You're right." he said finally, and the teal-haired man opened his mouth to protest, taking a step toward them and holding an arm out defensively in front of the girl.

"Good." Eclipse cut him off, smirking and holding a hand out toward the two. The girl had started to move- Train noted that, the step forward to meet the threat dead-on- before he spoke.

"They'll only come back in larger numbers if we let them go, so we'll take them with us."

Eclipse made a weird sound at that. Something that fell just short of an irritated bark.

"What? Are you kidding?"

Train smiled at the demon.

"Not at all. Unlike you morons, they'll serve a purpose other than to bicker and be nuisances. They've got information, and no doubt all kinds of clearance we can use. Now they and their priveleges are ours."

The demon couldn't seem to find the words to argue, though every ounce of his energy was going into glaring at Train. He lowered his hand reluctantly and pushed past Train to go stand outside instead. Train watched him go with a satisfied smirk before turning to address his group, which had suddenly taken an interest in what he had to say. He had a feeling it was because Eclipse had just been outdone. Was it really that easy? They had such a pack mentality.

"Well, you heard me. Tie their hands or something."

The group complied without argument.

* * *

><p><em>Can you say bullshit?<em>

_I can. This was bullshit. I should have never promised I'd be more active if I was just going to do this. I'm very sorry. I won't make excuses._

_I hope you'll forgive me. Here's your new chapter. Please review._

_MT_


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